Rabbits Through the Ages
by LunaV-chan
Summary: "Prince Demando has somehow re-emerged in the 21st century, Serenity... and he is not the changed man you last encountered." The King and Queen stared up at the screen: "Bring them to me, the princess and the rabbit. Or all shall die by my hand."
1. Prologue

I know I'm supposed to be writing the Destiny Saga right now, but my heart really isn't in them at the moment. I'll get back to them, I will... but right now, I've put them on a small hold. I'll work on them when I can, but I want to get this idea out. It's been looming in my mind for the longest time, but I never expanded it very well. I wrote it out... years and years ago. It was the very first attempt at SM fanfiction that I made. But it was horrible, and I ended up throwing it away before I got very far into it. Now I'm going to revisit it... now that I've learned a lot.

Not sure about the title yet... it may change...

_Rabbits Through the Ages_  
Prologue

* * *

There were few of her duties that Sailor Pluto enjoyed more than monitoring the streams of time. It was different and refreshing from her usual static purpose.

Her mission in life had always been to guard and keep the gates of time secure and safe from vile intruders who wished ill on any time stream. Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium had entrusted her with the task from the time she was a young senshi of 14 years old. Securing one of her own senshi as the guardian of time had been no easy task for the Queen to take, as it required her to persuade Chronos, the god of time itself, to allow the transfer of power between himself and Pluto. Pluto knew Chronos very little, as he was nothing more to her than an entity that would prove her downfall should she fail him (or time itself) in any way. He had entrusted her powers to protect the gates of time, but Pluto would never know how the Queen had been able to persuade him. She never disclosed the information to her, at least. Limitations had been placed upon Pluto, however, and she adhered to them very strictly. She could not travel back in time and change anything. Oh, she could observe it, but if anything changed, she would face dire consequences. She could move forward and observe the future, by relaying it to any of the present was forbidden, and again, she could face dreadful punishment.

She possessed the ability to stop time, but it was also forbidden to her. Only once in her ten thousand years of life had she broken this sacred pact, and Chronos had forgiven her. She supposed that he had been lenient in that the world itself would have ceased to exist if she had not rescued her friends, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, from the clutches of death. They had to be there, to help Sailor Moon. To lend their powers toward the destruction of Pharaoh 90. It had been necessary... even if she did admit to herself that it had been a partially selfish act. Her burden in life was always to put her mission first, but it didn't mean that deep in her heart, she didn't value her friends. Because she did. She did very much.

The task in front of her now, however, was different. It was new. Or, considering that she had been the guardian of time for almost her entire life of ten thousand years, it was new in that she had only been monitoring the streams of time for the past three years.

It was a very new task, and one that was given to her by the new rulers of the world. In particular, King Endymion of Crystal Tokyo of the 30th Century had entrusted it to her. Neo Queen Serenity had heartily approved the idea, and Pluto was ecstatic. Never before had she done more than watch over the gates of time.

Now, she watched over time itself.

There was a circular observatory room in the Crystal Palace. The room was lined with massive screens that stretched from the floor to the high ceiling. No matter which way Pluto swiveled in her chair, she could see one of these screens in front of her. In the middle of the room, her small, circular glass desk sat, covered in the essential elements to the massive system that she and Endymion had been perfecting for years.

It was, in her opinion, perfect. It allowed her to jump from time strain to time strain, century to century, and monitor exactly what was happening in each time period. She was able to make sure that all parts of time were flowing along the same path, heading toward the same future, and making the appropriate advances.

As the 30th century was the most advanced part of the time strain, the one leading all others, it was the perfect vantage point for her to observe from. She wasn't sure if Chronos had any scruples against this new task in front of her, but if so, no punishments had fallen from him, and the King and Queen had been encouraging her. They had direct access to the Gods now, just as Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium had. It was their responsibility now.

The small, metal door leading into the observatory swung open to reveal a pink-haired teenager in a white and pink senshi fuku walking toward the center of the room, a cherry popsicle in her mouth.

Sailor Pluto stood from her chair and turned to look at the girl with a reprimanding look across her face, her garnet eyes narrowing at her. "Small Lady, how many times has your father told you that the observatory is off limits to you?"

The girl shrugged and made a popping sound as she took the half-eaten treat out of her mouth. "I don't see why Papa is so adamant that I not see. I mean, I _am _Sailor Moon now, and besides, it's not like I haven't seen all that." She waved a hand at the screens displaying the past.

Sailor Pluto sighed, pushed her long, dark green hair away from her shoulder and took a step toward the fourteen year old girl. "Time is not your responsibility, Small Lady. It is mine. Your responsibility is protecting the present!"

"How many times have I told _you_ that you can call me Usagi now?" The pink-haired girl narrowed her own eyes. "Or Chibiusa, even, if you must. Though only Papa and Hotaru-chan seem to call me that anymore."

Pluto smiled. "I will forever call you Small Lady." She paused. "Now please, you must leave."

"How come Uranus and Neptune are allowed in here, but I'm not? Am I not leader of the senshi?" Chibiusa pouted, which proved to Pluto just how much of a child the girl still was.

"It is at your father's bidding that you remain as detached from the past as possible, as you need to focus more on your present and future." The girl started to protest, but Pluto put up a hand. "I do not make the rules, Small Lady. And you know that arguing with your father gets you no where. Go along now. Shoo!" She waved her hands, and Chibiusa let out another irritated sigh and retreated out the door. As she left, she saw Neptune and Uranus approaching, and she scowled at them before sticking the popsicle back in her mouth and stomping away.

Sailor Uranus, a tall woman with short, ash-blonde hair and piercing dark blue eyes, let out a guffawing laugh as she entered the room and stood in Chibiusa's place. "Our princess seems to be having a temper tantrum this evening, Setsuna."

Pluto shook her head amusedly, holding her hands up in defeat. "She does not like that she is not allowed to come here."

Sailor Neptune strode up in front of them both and took Pluto's seat at the desk. Slim with shimmering aquamarine hair and eyes, Neptune looked the part of a sea goddess just as she sounded like one. "Since when has Endymion-sama forbidden her here?" She asked in her lilting voice.

"Since he noticed her creeping around more and more, trying to find out more information." Pluto responded, leaning back on the desk and avoiding any of the buttons there.

"Ah, I take it she'd be trying to spy on the 21st century?" Uranus placed a hand on her hip.

"Of course." Pluto nodded. "But she cannot keep wondering about Usagi and Mamoru; they have their lives to lead, and she has hers. She needs to focus on her future. So King Endymion forbade her."

"And she won't argue with him," Neptune said, wagging a finger in the air. Her tone was matter-of-fact.

"It's a good thing she's never tried," Uranus muttered. "Little does she realize just how easily the king would cave in to her."

"She is her mother's daughter, Haruka," Neptune laughed lightly.

Pluto shook her head, smiling slightly. "In any case, you are both interrupting my work day, so if you will please return to your own duties, I will return to mine."

Neptune stood and scuttled away from Pluto's shooing hands as the tall dark emerald-haired senshi regained her seat.

The two outer senshi clicked in their heels toward the door, laughing with their ringing voices as they left. "Our Setsuna is ever dedicated," Neptune mused, her arm twined through Uranus's.

"Ah, and she always takes care to remind us of ours," Uranus winked at the time guardian. "As if we could ever forget, eh, Michiru?"

"Oh, indeed, indeed... and our duties are so very taxing these days, you know." They stood at the door, both with cupped hands over their lips as if they were shielding Pluto to their conversation. "We are, after all, the King's advisors. We have many important things we need to attend to."

"Tut, tut, and we take a few moments of our busy day to visit our friend Setsuna and all we receive is a quick dismissal!"

"Indeed, indeed," Neptune shook her head and her face broke out into a grin as she peered over her shoulder at Pluto.

The ruby eyed senshi rolled her eyes and fanned her hand at them. "Go back to your incredibly important King-assisting duties, both of you! I love you both; now go!"

Uranus put a hand to her chest as if she had been stabbed. "Ah, and with our dismissal, we receive her love! Come, Neptune, let us hurry and leave before she revokes said love!" She swept away, out of the room, with a dramatic hand to her brow.

Neptune let out a girlish giggle and peered once more at Pluto. "She should have been an actress."

"Indeed, she should have. Ja ne, Michiru."

"Ja ne!"

* * *

Sailor Pluto remained at her post throughout the night, scanning through the many streams. Her eyes swiveled from one screen to the next, her fingers tapped button after button, and still, she could not relinquish the task.

She kept asking herself why it felt so important to her to remain at her post instead of retiring for the night, but she could not answer. There was something... amiss, and in her soul, she felt it, but she could not see it, no matter where or how she looked.

It was nearing three in the morning when an ominous signal swept across her screen. For a moment, she thought she had imagined it. It would be impossible! Her red eyes jumped immediately back to the screen she had just swept over, and she scrutinized the scene. A lump formed in her throat at the sight, and she felt her heart begin to plummet in her chest.

How was it possible? Was there not supposed to be complete peace at this point in time? Was that not part of the past?

She turned in her chair and faced a set of translucent keys on the desk. Her hand hovered over them for a moment, but she forced herself to press the code that would summon the King.

She knew it could not be a false alarm.

* * *

Within a few minutes, the King strode into the room, clad in a night robe. The Queen was following behind him hurriedly, tying a sash around her silk nightdress.

Pluto bowed immediately to them both as they approached. "Your majesties, I am... I am so very sorry to intrude on your rest, I—"

"It is no worry, Setsuna; what on Earth is it?" Neo Queen Serenity had stepped from behind her husband. Slight in height, she stood well under a foot beneath her husband, especially as she stood in satin night-slippers instead of her usual heeled shoes that lent her some height. Her long, golden locks were usually tied up in the royal fashion of two twirls of hair on top of her head, with long strands trailing underneath, but as it was so late, her hair was down out of the spirals and trailed to the floor behind her back. She had apparently rushed from bed along with her husband when the summons came, taking not a moment at all for her appearance. As it always had, her duty came first to her.

Pluto began to open her mouth and speak, but no noise came out. She cleared her throat and pointed to the screen in the front middle of the room.

King Endymion's dark blue eyes narrowed at the screen. "What are we looking at, Pluto?"

"The 21st century, Endymion-sama," Pluto murmured, her eyes trying to take in the scene as well.

The Queen grasped one of her husband's elbows. "Endymion, what is it?"

The King, towering in height over his wife, was observing the scene without an inkling of understanding in his dark blue eyes. The screens reflected blue light and it bounced the color onto his black hair. He watched for a long minute, and then understanding hit him square in the face. "It's impossible."

"I'm afraid not, your majesty," Pluto said softly. "We're seeing time just as they are."

"With you monitoring the time streams and guarding the gate, it's impossible that he could have..." the King paused. He looked at Pluto. "You've been here more than the gates. It is possible that somehow..."

"Possible but not probable, your majesty." Pluto sighed. "You forget that I am directly tied to the gates. If even the slightest movement happened across them, I would know immediately."

"Endymion, what is it?" Serenity was shaking her husband's arm now. "What's going on?"

Endymion looked down at his wife for a worried moment. "Prince Demando has somehow re-emerged in the 21st century, Serenity... and he is not the changed man you last encountered."

"That's impossible!" Serenity gasped. "He's dead!"

Pluto tapped a button on her desk. "It is not, Serenity-sama. I cannot explain how the man has risen from the dead or has somehow broken through the time gates. All I know for the moment is that he is there. And worse yet," she paused, glancing at the King.

"Worse yet?" Serenity asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Worse yet," Pluto took a deep breath. "He's obviously made a threat." She pointed at the screen, where she changed the scene to display another.

The King and Queen stared up at the screen. The bright, cheery light blue sky was written across, as if in blood.

"_Bring them to me, the princess and the rabbit. Or all shall die by my hand."_

* * *

End Prologue

Hm hm hm... so whatcha think? This is just the prologue, just wondering what you guys think! :)


	2. Chapter One

Thank you all for the supportive reviews! I'm really excited to be finally writing a story involving Demando... he's one of the characters that has always fascinated me.

As a note, the Prologue has been updated. Nothing that you have to go back and read, just a few grammatical errors fixed.

**This chapter has been updated for a few errors as well. Thanks to Arabella Violetta and my good friend Michi for noticing that I mixed up one phrase that was supposed to describe Motoki, not Mamoru. lol.

_Rabbits Through The Ages_  
Chapter One

* * *

It was burning a hole in Tsukino Usagi's pocket. Her fingers kept itching toward it, tracing its outline through the jean material. Yet, she knew it had to remain in her pocket, or her boyfriend—no, scratch that—fiancé, would give her one of his heated, betrayed glares. Above all else, she hated those looks from Chiba Mamoru. They were worse than his "I'm disappointed in you" looks or his "Don't try to blame the broken vase on Luna again" looks. No, they were the absolute worst, mostly because his hurt expression simply tore at her heart, and because unlike her breaking something (well, that happened often enough; she was rather clumsy...), the betrayed looks were ones that could be avoided as long as she kept her word to him. She'd only received one of those looks once before in her nineteen years of life, and she never wanted it to happen again. Of course, that had only been because she had purposely stolen a hideous green jacket he was in possession of and given it away to charity. She would hate to see the betrayed glare should she do anything _really_ bad. Though, she supposed, to Mamoru, that _had_ been really bad.

But she simply sighed, wrenched her hand away from her pocket, and strode forward after her best friends: Kino Makoto, Mizuno Ami, Hino Rei, and Aino Minako.

The five girls had decided it was a perfect day for the group to go out on a shopping excursion, and there was hardly anything Usagi loved more than to spend her time with her adoring, beautiful friends. Still, keeping secrets from them was also one of the things she hated most, so it was as if she was staring at an adorable puppy... that happened to have rabies and was snarling at her.

Her boyfriend's deep, alluring voice broke into her thoughts. "Usako, _please_, don't tell them yet. We'll tell them all together, Haruka-san and Michiru-san too." His dark, stormy blue eyes had pleaded with her lighter crystal ones, and how on Earth was she supposed to refuse those adoring eyes? It was an incredibly beautiful form of torture. She sighed longingly.

"Yo, Usagi-chan!" Aino Minako had turned around and was walking backwards, her arms tied behind her back with her bubbly blue eyes sparkling and honey blonde hair bouncing behind her. "You are being way too quiet, girl. What's the deal?"

Hino Rei muttered something incoherent from beside Minako, and she reached out a hand and lightly smacked Minako on the head. "Minako-chan, really! Don't you know what Usagi's sighs usually indicate?" The violet-eyed girl turned her head to stare back at Usagi, her long, dark raven hair whipping along with her. "Something's up with Mamoru-san, right Usagi-chan?"

Usagi gulped and said nothing, her blue eyes widening. Rei was always able to read her too well.

The group of girls stopped walking suddenly, as the two girls in the lead were peering in a store window and making awed noises. The other three looked to see what was so interesting, and the lump in Usagi's throat grew once again. Her eyes sought out the blue-haired girl she knew would not be very interested in this, but unfortunately, she was proven wrong. Mizuno Ami's luminous blue eyes were soaking in the long, silken white dress on the mannequin just as much as the tall brunette's, Kino Makoto, green ones were.

"Isn't it gorgeous?" Makoto breathed as Rei and Minako joined the two at the window, all of their hands pressing against the glass. "This is the newest wedding collection from Usui Yoshiki*." Makoto stepped away from the glass and twined her hands together, sighing romantically. "Remember when we saw that fashion show of his years ago? He's grown in such popularity since then..."

Rei's critical violet eyes whipped around to stare at Usagi. "Didn't Usui-san once promise to make you a wedding dress, Usagi-chan? Or did you really make that up like we all thought?" Her eyes narrowed as she stared at her friend.

Usagi gulped back the lump in her throat. She wished she could answer, but nothing came out. If only they knew she'd had a telephone conversation with Usui-san just the day before...

Rei took her silence as a yes, and she rolled her eyes and turned back to the window, feeling gloatingly right.

"Let's go inside!" Minako suddenly squealed. "Come on, we can try on wedding dresses!"

"Minako-chan, none of us are getting married," Ami pointed out, and Usagi turned red in the face. Thankfully, all of the girls had their backs to her as they stood in front of the window. "Besides, you have to have an appointment with the designers to try on dresses. You have to be engaged, Minako-chan," Ami stressed once she saw Minako's dancing blue eyes start to try and devise a plan. The bubbly blonde stomped a foot and sighed in annoyance. She turned back to the window and peered morosely in. A blushing, starry-eyed girl was being fitted for a dress at that moment. Minako let out a whine.

Usagi gulped once again. Her appointment with the shop was in exactly four days on Monday, and Usui Yoshiki himself was going to come out to his Azubu store branch to help her with her dress. Her face the exact shade of a blazing hot red pepper, Usagi cleared her throat and tried, through dry, parched lips, to direct the girls' attention elsewhere. "L-l-look, minna—Osaka-san is having a sale at her shop!" The blonde pointed across the street toward Osa-P, the jewelry store owned by the Osakas: Usagi's good friend Naru and her mother.

Makoto glanced toward the store for a moment. "I never buy jewelry; too expensive." Minako nodded and pressed her face against the glass, her nose looking akin to a pig's snout.

"W-well, I'm going to visit Naru-chan!" Usagi choked out defiantly.

Rei sighed and pried herself away from the glass, sending the beautiful dresses in the window one last longing look. "I'll go with you, Usagi-chan. No use in standing here and looking at these. Doesn't help matters when you're single," the girl grumbled.

The other girls suddenly became unglued from the glass and they stared at Rei morosely. The three let out hopeless sighs similar to Rei's and all of the girls began to trudge after Usagi toward Osa-P.

* * *

"Mamo-chan, it was the worst shopping trip of my life," Usagi finished her story with a flourish and fell dramatically onto the couch behind her, her head landing in her boyfriend's lap. The man chuckled in amusement and ran a hand through one of her long locks of hair. She had arrived at his apartment, looking frustrated, only minutes before.

"I'm sorry, Usako," Mamoru said sympathetically, staring down at her with deep love written across his dark blue eyes. "I know it couldn't have been easy."

Usagi sighed, half irritated and half enraptured by his ministrations to her hair. She reached into her jean pocket and pulled out her engagement ring. Holding it up in the light, she felt a blush rising onto her cheeks as she stared at it. It was a pink diamond heart, surrounded by white diamonds. "Mamo-chan," she pondered. There was a question in her voice.

"Mmm?"

"What took you so long to give this back to me?" The girl looked up at the black-haired man through her eyelashes.

He looked blank for a moment, and his eyes turned to gaze at the ring being held between her fingers. "Because my original plan was thwarted, Usako. You know that."

She sat up defiantly and turned around to look at him. Her blue eyes narrowed at him. "Mamo-chan, when you left for America the first time, I was sixteen. Then you were... were..."

"Dead?" he whispered, his eyes looking pained as he remembered the pressing darkness of being without his star seed.

Usagi choked slightly. "Y-yeah." She grimaced, but went on. "Then when we defeated Chaos, you went back to America, and somehow, the ring had disappeared from my jewelry box."

"Luna's handy like that."

"Damn cat," Usagi grumbled, looking down at the ring.

Mamoru sighed and leaned forward, his hands on his knees. "It was a difficult thing for me to do, Usako." He looked at her, but she only frowned at him, brought her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. The ring still dangled between her thumb and forefinger. It was like it felt toxic for her to put it on.

"Why?" she muttered.

He frowned and stared out the wide balcony doors in front of him. The sun was beginning to set in the sky. "I didn't want to leave you with that on your chest, again. In case something happened... again."

"That's stupid; what else could have happened?" Her voice was like a pouting child's.

He laughed somberly and shook his head before turning to her. "Usako, with the luck we've had, anything can and does happen. I wanted things to be done properly this time. I didn't want to leave you here in Tokyo with the ring, wondering about things. For you, it was like I was gone for two years." He held out a hand to her, motioning her forward, but she didn't move. He frowned. "I wanted to propose to you when I was actually here, ready to marry you. Not just to leave you with a ring and a promise. You're worth more to me than that. Do you have any idea how hard it was to go to America? Again? Knowing how much time I'd been away from you already and would be away from you still?"

"I wanted you to go, Mamo-chan. I never blamed you for wanting to go." Her voice was soft, and her hold on her knees began to loosen.

"I know, but I was very close to not going," Mamoru mumbled.

Usagi scooted close to him again and laid her head on his shoulder. "You had to finish your degree, Mamo-chan. It was an amazing opportunity, and your dreams are important to me, too." She was quiet for a moment, and they simple sat watching the sun setting through the glass doors. "So you wanted to wait till you were back." He nodded. She pursed her lips together. "So... why now? It's been several months since you got back."

"Ah..." Mamoru cleared his throat. He looked at her for a long minute.

Her eyes widened at him. "Mamo-chan?"

"Well..." he reddened. "Let me explain what happened..."

"Eh?" Her eyes turned confused.

* * *

_One Week Earlier_

Mamoru sat enjoying his morning coffee while perusing through a newspaper. It wasn't often that he got to just sit and drink a cup of coffee anymore. He glanced at his watch. He had two hours before he had to be at the hospital he worked at, and it felt nice to have a little free time. Not that he didn't enjoy his work, because he did. Being an intern was demanding, but it was well worth it.

He waved to his best friend, Motoki, who had just entered the CROWN Fruit Parlor that he owned. Motoki grinned at him and walked toward him. "Mamoru! Finally got in for some of Unazuki's coffee, huh?"

Mamoru grinned back. "Your sister does make the best. You're coming in late today, Motoki."

Motoki slid into the booth across from him. "Hey, the boss can come and go whenever." He grinned. "Especially now that Unazuki is my assistant manager."

Mamoru chuckled and shook his head. "She has time for that?"

Motoki nodded, his green eyes twinkling. "She's taking a few courses at the community college at the moment, so she has time for both." The blonde haired man noticed a red haired-girl glaring at him from the front counter. "Ah, Unazuki's mad... better go. Ja ne, Mamoru!" The lightly freckled man jumped up and hurried toward the front.

Mamoru smiled toward his friend getting a lecture from his younger sister before shaking his head and turning back to his newspaper. The morning was dragging on in a lazy fashion for quite a while, until suddenly Mamoru felt dark shadows above him.

He blinked down at his newspaper, and then looked up. Four girls were standing around him, their thin arms crossed across their chests as they stared down at him with firm expressions on their faces.

He blinked. "Minako-chan, Mako-chan, Rei-chan, Ami-chan?"

Suddenly they were sliding into the booth around him, and all their faces turned to look at him.

"We have a bone to pick with you, Chiba Mamoru-san." Makoto said in a threatening voice, sitting very close to him. He grimaced. The tall, strong brunette could wield lightening with her fingertips. She was a bit... terrifying with a thundering look on her face.

He looked around at the other girls. Ami nodded her head solemnly. He raised an eyebrow. If even gentle, timid Ami was involved in whatever the girls had up their sleeves, it had to be serious.

"Alright, girls... what can I do for you?" He folded his newspaper and gave them his attention.

This seemed to please them. Minako, sitting straight across from him, leaned over the table. "Why haven't you proposed to Usagi-chan yet?"

Mamoru blanched. "W-what?"

"You've been home for months, Chiba," Rei poked her finger around Makoto to sink her sharp fingernail into his arm. "We thought when you got back, we'd have a happy, engaged Usagi! And no, we don't! So what's your problem?"

His jaw dropped, and he stared around at them with his eyes blinking stupidly. "I, uh, well..." He cleared his throat. "You want to know why I haven't pr-proposed to Usako?"

All of them nodded. "Please," Ami added as an afterthought. The others shot her dirty looks, but she shrugged, a small grin tugging at her lips.

"She's been busy, and so have I," Mamoru managed, muttering. He glanced at Makoto. "You've kept her pretty busy in the bakery, and I'm in my intern year. We haven't exactly had that much time together lately."

Makoto raised one thin, brunette eyebrow. "Usagi-chan loves working with me, but every time we get an order for a wedding cake, she gets this dreamy, sad—"

"Okay, okay," Mamoru put up his hands. "I get it. She's ready." He sighed. "I didn't want to rush her in any way, you know, girls. She should get to have a peaceful life of her own. With no worries about battles or me or... you know, the future." He gave them a meaningful look.

"So that's why you've been stalling!" Ami hit a realization, and she smiled at Mamoru. "You were afraid the second you guys married, all of our lives would change."

Mamoru nodded, looking sheepish, hi eyes averted from them.

"We don't know what will happen," Ami looked sympathetically at him.

He nodded. "Aren't you all worried?"

"We'll all have a lot more responsibility then," Minako muttered. Then her blue eyes lit up. "But I think we'll all be able to lead a normal life for a while before Crystal Tokyo, don't you guys?" She looked around at the others.

"Was Chibiusa born before or after the creation of Crystal Tokyo?" Rei pondered, tapping her fingers on the table.

"No idea," Mamoru shook his head. "They never really let us know when she was born."

"Then who knows, Mamoru-san!" Minako's face had brightened. "You and Usagi-chan may have years and years before you have to become king and queen!"

"Minako-chan, keep it down!" Makoto hissed. She looked at Mamoru. "But she does have a point, Mamoru-san. We don't know when the... you know, disaster...will hit, so we shouldn't put any of our lives on hold because of it."

Mamoru nodded, smiling softly. "You're right. I've been letting it get to me, I guess." He looked out the window with a secret smile playing on his face.

* * *

"So the girls convinced you I was ready?" Usagi was staring at her boyfriend with her mouth wide open.

He nodded. "Pretty much. I don't know what's going to happen, Usako, and I don't know if our marriage will influence when we... become king and queen." He looked at her. "But the girls did help me realize that I can let that stand in the way."

Usagi was sniffling. A waterfall of tears suddenly erupted from her eyes and she jumped in Mamoru's open arms. "Mamo-chan!"

He chuckled and pulled her close. "Usako."

She quietened her sniffles after a few minutes, and then her eyes happened to glance at the clock on the end table. She groaned. "I'd better go." She lifted her head from his chest and saw the disappointed look on his face. She grimaced as well. "Mako-chan, Minako-chan, and I have a really busy day tomorrow. Friday means lots of weekend wedding cakes to prepare." She shrugged. "It's June!" She grinned up at him. "So when can we tell the girls?"

"This weekend?" He kissed her forehead. "Michiru-san's art exhibit is Saturday."

"We'll have drinks with them all after?" Usagi beamed.

"Perfect." Mamoru grinned back at her.

Usagi jumped up and headed toward the door, slipping into her shoes. Mamoru followed her, opening the door for her. He leaned against the door as she walked out and turned to him with a smile. "Mamo-chan, I'm really happy."

He chuckled. "I am, too."

She leaned up and received a kiss from him. "Will I see you tomorrow night?"

He winced. "Working at the hospital, Usako."

She nodded. "I thought so. I'll see you Saturday, then." She kissed him again. "Oyasumi, Mamo-chan."

"Oyasumi, Usako."

* * *

"This one is finished, Usagi-chan!" Makoto called, and the blonde girl came bustling to the back to see the cake. The blonde squealed.

"Mako-chan, it's your most beautiful one yet!" She clapped her hands together as she stared at the layers of the ivory wedding cake.

Makoto grinned as she surveyed her work. "Pretty good." She wiped her hands on her apron and picked up the cake, carrying it to the freezer. "This one will be delivered for the Rika wedding tomorrow."

Usagi went to the front and came back with a clipboard. "Toro will be here tomorrow morning to make the delivery. What about the Chisaki wedding?"

"The cakes are in the oven baking, and I'll finish decorating it today before we close. Is that everything?"

Usagi nodded. "Except whatever orders come in today. Minako-chan will be here soon, so we'll have more help for the busy afternoon hours."

Makoto grinned. "I have to say that working with you guys is the best. Who knew the clumsiest twins on the planet could actually be the best workers ever?"

Usagi rolled her blue eyes, grinning too. "You're just lucky you have us! We don't break things _that_ often"

"Just the random plate or two." Makoto went to the oven and checked on the baking cakes. "I'm very lucky to have you guys, and I appreciate you. I won't have you guys for much longer, and you know how much it's going to suck when I have to hire fourteen year old teenagers to work part time for me?"

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going anywhere, Mako-chan, and I don't think Minako-chan will be either!"

"Minako-chan's going to hit it big soon; I just know she will!" Makoto looked away from the oven to Usagi, her eyes dancing. "She's too awesome and has too much talent. And you!" Makoto snorted. "As if I don't know, Usagi-chan."

Usagi looked away, a lump forming in her throat. "...know what?"

"So which pocket are you hiding it in?" Makoto crossed her flour-covered arms across her chest.

"Hiding it?" Sweat beads began to fall down Usagi's face.

"Your ring." The brunette grinned.

Usagi's eyes widened to the size of teacup saucers. "How—how..."

"Please." Makoto rolled her eyes and waved a hand. "I can read you, Usagi-chan." She grinned evilly. "I was sure that you would spill yesterday at the wedding dress shop window, but you held up." She chuckled.

Usagi grinned sheepishly. She reached into the pocket of her white shorts, hidden behind her apron. She produced the ring. "Don't tell anyone else, Mako-chan. We're going to tell everyone this weekend, after Michiru-san's exhibition."

Makoto nodded. "Don't worry; I won't tell."

"Yoohoo!" called a cheery voice, and Minako breezed into the back room just as Usagi pocketed her ring again. "Hey guys!" She opened a cabinet and stored her handbag with the other girls' belongings before grabbing a white apron and tying it on. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Just the Chisaki wedding," Usagi grinned sheepishly at Makoto, who nodded, grinning in return.

"Okay, well I'm going to go out front." Minako darted a glance at Usagi. "You've been leaving the counter empty, and there is a hot guy out there looking at birthday cakes." She paused. "I just hope it's not for his girlfriend!" She grumbled as she sped past the other blonde.

Usagi giggled. "I guess that's my signal to get out front with her. Call me if you need me."

"Will do!"

* * *

When Usagi left work in the late afternoon, she was exhausted. Wiping her hand across her brow, she stepped out into the bright sunlight after waving goodbye to Makoto and Minako, who were cleaning up for the day. She slung her handbag over her shoulder and started to walk toward home to change out of her work clothes before heading to Rei's. It was going to be an uneventful, easy night at the temple with Rei and Makoto. Minako had secured a date with the hot guy from earlier (he had apparently been buying a birthday cake for his younger brother), so she had bailed on their girls' night, and Ami was, as usual, busy with her university work.

Usagi worried about the blue-haired genius sometimes. Ami was intent on starting her intern year as soon as possible, so she seemed to be working around the clock to finish her medical degree from way ahead of schedule.

So it was going to be a girls' movie night for Makoto, Usagi, and Rei, who lived at the Hikawa shrine with her grandfather while she studied ancient Japan and archeology at the Azubu University, where Ami studied as well. Usagi hadn't understood why exactly the miko decided to become a Japanese historian, since when she was younger her dreams had included being a singer like Minako. But then she had asked her why she had changed her mind.

* * *

"It was a childish dream, Usagi-chan," the miko said while she stood stirring curry at the temple stove. "For Minako-chan, singing is a passion. She is an idol already, and she doesn't even realize just how special she is. She'll go far. But for me, it was a whim. I have always dreamed of a satisfying career, and this is the one for me."

"But it's... history!"

The miko chuckled. "To you, it's boring. To me, it's who I am. It's who I've always been. Ancient language was always my favorite class in school, but I just didn't pay much attention to history as a career." She looked at Usagi with a smile. "But how awesome will it be when I'm on a dig someday and I help to find a piece of our ancestry? It's going to be amazing." Usagi watched the girl's eyes shine, and she smiled.

* * *

Usagi smiled as she walked. She was happy, and all of her friends were happy. Minako was working with her agent to get auditions while she worked with Makoto and herself part time at Makoto's bakery, which was flourishing. Rei was enjoying her studies, Ami was so close to finishing hers, and she...

"I'm getting married," she whispered, her eyes shining brightly in the light.

"Oh my God!"

Usagi blinked and looked at an elderly woman who was gaping up at the sky, her hand pointing toward it. The blonde frowned and turned around to see what the woman was staring at, and she noticed that all around her, others were stopping to stare up at the sky as well.

She gasped as she gazed up at the brightness of the sky. It was tainted with blood red writing.

"_Bring them to me, the princess and the rabbit. Or all shall die by my hand."_

* * *

End Chapter One

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and the next one will be out soon!

*You will remember that Usui Yoshiki is the fashion designer from SuperS. He "promised" to make Usagi a wedding dress after she helped him find his inspiration again. I always liked this episode very much... er, except the weird FishEye being naked thing. Was. Just. Weird.


	3. Chapter Two

No notes for this chapter... just a thank you to everyone who's reviewed or put this on their story alert!

_Rabbits Through The Ages  
_Chapter Two

* * *

It may have been scorching hot with the sun descending across the blue sky, but Usagi felt numb and frozen on the inside as she stared upward. A cold shiver of terror was making its way up her spine, through the pit of her stomach, and into her throat. She wanted Mamoru.

She wanted Mamoru _now_.

She slid away from the open road and the people all gathering around to stare up into the sky, and she pressed her back against the high wall on the sidewalk. Her hand shaking, she reached into her handbag and fumbled around inside. She pulled out her cell phone and pressed Mamoru's speed dial number, listening to the familiar buzzing for only a few seconds before the phone was answered.

"Moshi moshi? Usako?"

"Mamo-chan, d-do you see it?"

"I've seen it." His tone was abrupt. "Where are you?" She heard him breathing hard and realized he was running. She heard a horn beep and the sound of keys jangling, then a slamming door.

"Close to work," she looked around for a moment. "About fifteen minutes away from home."

"I'm coming to get you; get to your house as fast as you can, okay? Don't stop, and please don't do anything rash, alright?"

"Mamo-chan, you can't leave work!" She heard the engine of a car starting.

"Usako, there is a threat in the _sky_ about you. You think I give a damn about work right now? I said I have an emergency, and I do."

She didn't really have anything to argue with that. She glanced up into the sky again. The words were still written boldly. She shivered. How long would they remain there? Were they forever going to be imprinted into the beautiful sky, staining it? Tainting it?

"Temple, Usako?"

Usako shook herself out of her reverie. "Sorry?"

She heard Mamoru sigh impatiently. "Usako! This is no time to be spacing out! Is it too out of the way for you to go to the temple instead?"

"No," She pushed away from the wall and started to walk in the opposite direction. "It's not far."

"Get to the temple. I'll meet you there. And Usako?"

"Hai?"

"Time to break out the senshi communicators again, I'm afraid." His voice sounded frustrated. She didn't say anything. She clutched the phone tightly, her knuckles beginning to turn white. "Hurry, Usako. Get to Rei's; you'll be safe with her. I love you."

"I love you, too." The line went dead as he hung up. Taking a deep breath and forcing herself to keep her eyes on the sidewalk, and without looking at people staring up around her or at the daunting sky, Usagi pushed herself forward into a run and reached into her bag again as she did, shoving her phone away and grabbing out what looked like a pink watch. She flipped open the screen. "Moon calling Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury."

Her heart felt like it was plummeting in her chest as she uttered the words. They had had three blissful, peaceful years free of fighting, but obviously, it was over.

"I was getting married," she whispered to herself. She felt tears brimming in her eyes as suddenly Ami's, Minako's, Makoto's, and Rei's faces appeared across the screen. She shoved her hand across her face hurriedly, wiping away the tears before they could see.

* * *

"Usagi-chan," Rei called as she hurried toward the stairs of the temple, her white and red priestess robes whipping around her. She reached the blonde girl and grabbed her arm, heaving her up the last two steps. Usagi took a deep breath and gave Rei a wavering smile. The raven haired girl tried to smile back, but her eyes had glanced at the sky unconsciously, and she grimaced. "Inside, Usagi-chan. Come on." She pulled the girl forward, and they walked quickly to a sliding door on the left side of the temple. Rei slid open the door leading into her bedroom and ushered Usagi inside. She glanced around outside for a moment before entering the room and sliding the door shut.

Usagi collapsed in front of the low table in the center of the room. It was already surrounded with cups of tea. Usagi glanced up at Rei, who shrugged. "We have tea when we have senshi meetings." Usagi winced. They hadn't had to have a senshi meeting in years. "I know, Usagi." Rei whispered. The miko sat on her bed and her eyes soaked in the stack of history books on her desk. "I know how you feel. I don't want my life interrupted, either."

The door slid open, and Rei jumped up into a fighter stance immediately, but Mamoru walked in and she relaxed and let out a breath of relief. Usagi let out a frantic whimper and jumped up, launching herself into his arms as he tried to enter the room and shut the door. "Usako."

"Mamo-chan." Usagi burrowed her face into the warmth of his chest, closing her eyes and trying to rid herself of the image of the bloodied words.

The door slid open again, and someone cleared their throat behind the couple. Mamoru blushed and shuffled out of the way of the entrance, pulling Usagi toward the table.

Makoto grinned half-heartedly at them before entering, followed by Minako. Both were sweaty and still had traces of flour on their skin. "Sorry, Rei-chan," Makoto dusted a patch of flour off her arm. "We ran straight from the bakery."

Rei's violet eyes narrowed and a frown pressed across her lips, but she simply shook her head. "It's fine, Mako-chan. This is more important than cleaning up a little flour."

Ami came bustling through the door at that moment, her arms laden with books. Her short, pearly blue hair was askew, and she looked pale. "I'm! Sorry! Hurried!" She gasped, choking in air. Minako pounded the girl on the back.

"Breathe, Ami-chan. It's okay!" Minako relieved the blue-haired girl of her books and deposited them on the floor. The others were taking seats at the table, with Rei still lounging on her bed above them all. Usagi stared down at the cup of tea in front of her, frowning into the brown liquid.

"Okay, so I think the question we're all wondering about is, what the hell is that?" Minako said as she sat down across from Mamoru and Usagi, beside Ami.

Makoto, adjacent to Mamoru at the head of the table, frowned. "Obviously, it's a threat toward Usagi-chan. 'Bring me the princess'? Obviously, Usagi-chan."

"And the 'rabbit'." Mamoru said loudly. "Rabbit, girls." All of the girls looked at him, except Usagi. She continued to stare down into her tea. He folded his hands together and looked up around at them all, a message obviously relayed in his dark, intense blue eyes: Fierce violet, pearl blue, sky blue, and emerald green eyes all reached the same conclusion as him at the same moment. They all gasped.

"Chibiusa-chan!" The girls yelled together. Usagi winced, her own crystal blue eyes not looking up.

"No one called Chibiusa 'rabbit' after Wiseman was defeated, though!" Minako sputtered, twisting a handful of her honey blonde hair in her fist.

"Not only that, Minako-chan," Makoto noted with a heavy frown. "Only the Black Moon family and Wiseman referred to her as the rabbit. Her family and friends called her Small Lady, if I'm correct?" Makoto tried to catch Usagi's eyes, but failing, she looked at Mamoru, who nodded.

"Chibiusa has been away for years," Ami was reaching into her handbag and pulling out her Mercury computer. She flipped it open. "Why would someone threaten a person not even present in this time?" She glanced up at Mamoru. "Unless..." A heavy frown was present on Mamoru's face, and he nodded, his black brows furrowed together deeply, but he didn't say anything.

Makoto glanced at Usagi for a moment. She was morosely stirring her tea around in her cup with a spoon. "Usagi-chan, come on now. We have to get to work now."

"Yes, Mako-chan. I do realize this." Usagi glanced up for a moment, and the brunette blanched at the bitter look on her face. The blonde looked back down at her tea. Makoto glanced at Mamoru, who shook his head as a warning.

Rei sighed and crossed the room, plopping down in the seat adjacent to Usagi. It was silent for a moment, and the group simply listened to the sound of Ami typing on her computer. Then Rei spoke. "Look, minna. Piece it together. It's someone who knows about Chibiusa, who dubs her rabbit, and who demands both her and Usagi or they kill everyone. Not the Queen of the future, but the Princess, meaning our Usagi. Meaning, they know about our Usagi, too."

Minako was staring at Rei with a scrunched brow. "You can't seriously be suggesting..."

"She's suggesting that the Black Moon is back," Usagi muttered, and she pushed the full teacup away from her. All the eyes in the room turned to glue to the paling girl. Her blue eyes stared hollowly into Mamoru's eyes. "It can't be true. The Ayakashi sisters are living happy lives now. Petz sold me some of her crazy makeup that broke me out just last week!" She let out a harsh laugh. "The rest are dead! Rubeus blew up with his ship. We killed Esmeraude. We all watched Saphir die." Usagi choked as she started crying. "_I_ watched as Demando put himself between the Wiseman and me, sacrificing his life for me. We all fought and rid the world of Wiseman, the Death Phantom. It is impossible!"

"It's supposed to be impossible, Usagi-chan," Ami said quietly. She turned her computer around to face the rest of the group. "But this energy I've picked up in the downtown Azubu Shopping District is the energy of a droid. A droid, Usagi-chan. This is the energy of the Black Moon family. Except that, this droid seems to have much more power than the ones before." The blue-haired girl snapped the computer shut. "But we don't have time to discuss this right now. We've got to stop that droid before it hurts innocent people."

The others nodded and stood immediately, except for Mamoru and Usagi. Usagi sat staring at the table with her fists clenched. Rei's eyes started to turn red, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Mamoru put up a hand. He shook his head and waved them out. Makoto grabbed Rei's arm and pulled her outside, followed by the other two girls.

"Usako," Mamoru said softly, reaching out and putting his hand over one of the clenched fists in her lap. "We've got to go."

"I know," she said. Tears were pouring down her cheeks as she turned and looked at him. "We were getting married, Mamo-chan."

He blinked. "Usako?" He felt a small smile break out on his face. "Usako, we're still getting married."

"Now we've got to focus on another enemy," she whispered. "I thought it was over. I thought we'd get to be happy now."

The man sighed and stood. He held out his hand to her. Reluctantly, she took it. He pulled her up and into his arms. "We're still getting married, Usako. Nothing's going to stop that, okay?" He planted a kiss on the top of her head.

She nodded into his chest. "I've been so happy without fighting."

"It's part of our destinies, I guess," Mamoru mumbled. "I don't really want you to fight this time, as you're being threatened. But I know I can't really say anything to stop you, right?"

Usagi looked up at him, and suddenly she let out a small laugh. "I don't want to fight, but there's no way I'm not fighting with my senshi."

"Figured." He grinned back at her. "I'll be with you."

"You always are."

* * *

Mamoru and Usagi met the others outside, and Usagi nodded at them. The girls visibly relaxed, and Minako stepped forward to the other blonde girl. "Ready, Usagi-chan?" She held out her hand, and Usagi took it.

She smiled. "Back to work, I guess." She released Minako's hand and produced her broach. "Moon Eternal!"

The other girls suddenly were holding different colored rods in their hands.

"Venus Crystal Power!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power!"

"Mars Crystal Power!"

"Mercury Crystal Power!"

"_MAKE-UP!_" All of their girls voices blended together into one loud yell, and light, ribbons, fire, lightening, and feathers surrounded them all before leaving to reveal the five inner Sailor Senshi.

Eternal Sailor Moon looked down at her appearance. "Been a while since I've seen this skirt." She fluffed the multiple layers of her gold, crimson, and navy blue skirt. From behind her, Mamoru chuckled, and she whipped her head around. Tuxedo Kamen stood in his black tuxedo and cape. He had apparently transformed at the same time as them. She grinned. "Been a while since I've seen that mask, too."

Tuxedo Kamen grinned and stepped close to her. He was about to say something when someone whistled. The two looked, and Sailor Mars, in her red fuku and heels, had two fingers in her mouth from where she had whistled at them. Raising one black eyebrow, she tapped her heeled foot against the ground. "Shall we go, Sailor Moon?"

The winged senshi cleared her throat. "Right."

Jupiter, in green, laughed, while Venus, in orange, led the group into a run down the steps. Mercury, in blue, pressed one of her blue earrings and her visor appeared over her eyes, her gloved fingers flying against her computer as they ran toward downtown.

* * *

"Hold it! Stop!" Mercury yelled suddenly, and the girls and Tuxedo Kamen ceased running and turned to look at her. Buzzing beeps were issuing from the computer, and Mercury peered up through her visor. "It's here."

Sailor Venus took a tentative step forward. The long, wide street, lined with shops on each side, was empty, and the sun had just set, leaving the street with a faint glow of evening sunlight while it slipped beyond the horizon. "It's completely empty, Mercury."

"Exactly," the ice senshi noted. "No people. It's just now evening. Yet all of these shops are abandoned."

"The threat in the sky is gone," Sailor Moon whispered. Sailor Jupiter stood closest to her, and the thunder senshi put a hand on her shoulder, gazing up at the sky.

"Looks like it was only going to last for the day?"

Sailor Moon nodded woodenly.

The senshi heard a low rumble, and they tensed. "Brace yourselves! It's coming!" Mercury yelled, snapping her computer shut but leaving her visor on. Sailor Mars joined Sailor Venus in front of the rest of the senshi, and Tuxedo Kamen moved closer to Sailor Moon, taking her arm.

Lumbering out of a dark alley, a massive youma snarled at them. Wolf-like in appearance, its green-tinted fur gave it a sickening appearance, as the patches of fur clung together. It stood well over seven feet tall, and its head was twice the size of its skinny body.

"Ugh, gross." Venus pinched her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "We're having to fight the smelliest, ugliest dog on the planet."

"You're right, Venus," Sailor Mercury yelled from behind. "It was once just a normal dog! It's been given dark powers similar to those of the Droids of our past."

"Using our animals to make youma," Sailor Jupiter grimaced. "Cheap move. The poor creature."

It let out another roar, and it started to lunge toward the senshi. Venus and Mars instantly jumped above it.

"Venus!" A bright string of hearts surrounded the love senshi. "Love and Beauty Shock!" The piercing love heart hit the creature in the back, but it seemed to have no effect as it turned and started to charge toward Venus, who had just landed feet away.

"Mars!" A flamed bow and arrow appeared in Sailor Mars' hands. "Flame Sniper!" She shot the arrow straight toward the heart of the youma, who had just reached Venus and had knocked her to the ground. Venus shrieked as the creature tried to bite at her. The arrow scorched through the creature's chest, and Venus rolled away from it. She pushed herself up with her hands Aand ran toward the other senshi.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Dagger-like leaves swirled all around Sailor Jupiter and shot out toward the youma.

"Mercury! I thought you said the droid was more powerful than they once were! This one seems to be falling quite easily," Mars yelled over the noise of Jupiter attacking.

"We've gained in power as well! Apparently, our enemy has not foreseen that!" Mercury grinned and turned off her visor. She rushed in front of Jupiter, who had just ceased attacking. The youma was visibly weakened, but it let out another roar just as the ice senshi approached. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" A harp appeared in Mercury's hands, and it sent waves of icy water toward the wolf creature. It shrank away from it and cried out. Mercury whipped her head around. "Sailor Moon!"

Grasping the Eternal Tiare in her hands, Sailor Moon nodded. She approached the droid. "Silver Moon!" Feathers began to fly all around the senshi, and her rod grew in length. "Crystal Power Kiss!"

The bright, golden light reached the youma and it began to cry as it erased the darkness within it. Sailor Moon stepped back once her attack had finished, and she gasped, seeing a small stray dog laying in the place of the youma.

Sailor Jupiter ran up to the dog and dropped to her knees in front of it. "This is low. Changing humans into youma has happened many times, but attacking a defenseless animal and changing it? Lowest we've seen."

"Well, a cat had a rainbow crystal long ago," Mercury pointed out, but she shut up once she saw the harsh look on Jupiter's face. The lightening senshi picked the whimpering dog up and cradled it close to her, walking toward the other senshi.

"I'll take care of him." she said firmly.

Someone chuckled from behind them. Jupiter looked up, and the other senshi and Tuxedo Kamen turned to see Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune standing behind them.

Tall with short ash-blonde hair, Uranus grinned. "We thought you might need our help, but apparently not."

"Uranus, Neptune," Sailor Moon beamed at them.

"Hello, Sailor Moon," Neptune nodded her head once to her. "Seems we missed the fun."

"I'm afraid there will probably be a next time," Uranus sighed. "So I doubt we'll miss anything." The two walked forward to meet the other senshi.

"Any idea what we're up against?" Mars asked them.

Neptune shook her aqua, wavy hair. "None at all."

Dust and debris had settled all around the area where they had previously been attacking. Tuxedo Kamen squinted. He gasped. "Hold on!"

The others instantly looked to see what he was seeing, and they tensed. Someone was walking toward them at a firm, decided pace, so fast that it was almost a gait. The click of heels was all the senshi could hear as the person came closer, only a flash of an outline apparent to them. The person emerged from the dust and stood in front of the senshi, stopping and facing them with one firm hand on their hip. There was a collective gasp. "Sailor Chibi Moon!"

"Wrong," said the pink-haired girl fiercely. "That would be Sailor Moon."

Sailor Moon's jaw dropped as she took in the girl's appearance. She had the same form of Super Sailor Chibi Moon; white ribbons trailed behind her white fuku, pink trimmed the skirt and on her lapels, and pink knee-high, heeled boots were on her feet. Her blue eyes rose and she looked into the solemn red ones staring back at her. This girl was no child. She was tall,much taller than Sailor Moon, and willowy, with the same hairstyle of her youth: coned odangoes. Except now, her hair trailed almost to the ground in two wisps, almost exactly like Sailor Moon's. To Sailor Moon's eyes, the girl looked very similar to the appearance she took as the Black Lady, except now, she was obviously just grown up. Even though her eyes were incredibly stern, there was no evil lurking in them. Sailor Moon glanced at Tuxedo Kamen. He had the same blanched look across his face that she was sure was on her own.

The pink-haired girl stepped closer to the group. Her voice sounded impatient. "Look, we don't have much time. You all had better follow me, before the portal Pluto created closes and I'm stuck here. Come on now." She turned and began to walk away, and the senshi looked at each other.

"Should... we, ah, follow?" asked Sailor Jupiter, still cradling the dog. He had, by this point, stopped whimpering and had closed his eyes, obviously content to sleep in her arms.

"If Pluto is the one in charge of this, we should," said Sailor Uranus. Neptune nodded, agreeing.

Sailor Moon hesitated. She took Tuxedo Kamen's gloved hand. "What should we do?" she asked him, looking up into his eyes. He started to answer, but an exasperated sigh interrupted him.

The pink haired girl stopped walking and turned to them once again, a deeply frustrated frown spread across her mouth. "For god's sakes, Usagi! I'm not some deranged youma going to attack you all! That would be that thing in Mako-chan's arms!" She pointed to the small dog. "But bring it with you. Let's go, now!"

Sailor Moon glanced at Tuxedo Kamen, who nodded and took her hand before stepping forward. The others followed behind them.

The group walked in silence for a short while, but then Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen caught up to the girl, and Sailor Moon cleared her throat. "What do we, ah, call you now, Chibiusa?" She asked tentatively.

One pink eyebrow raised, the girl turned her head and took in Sailor Moon's appearance. She surveyed her for a moment. "You look like Mama. You never used to." Sailor Moon grew silent, her jaw dropping. The girl grinned for a moment before letting the stern expression cover her face again, and she turned away from Sailor Moon as she walked. "Most of my friends and family call me Usagi now. Papa and Hotaru-chan still call me Chibiusa, but they are the only ones I allow. Pluto still insists on referring to me as Small Lady, but I advise that you don't, or I'll be really mad. I suppose, since you still go by Usagi, you may all call me Usa. It would be easiest." She paused. "Why is Hotaru-chan of this time not with you?"

"After the defeat of Galaxia and Chaos, Hotaru went back to being a normal child." Neptune said from close behind Sailor Moon, Uranus walking at her side. "She's only a child of three."

"Oh yes, that's right." The future Sailor Moon nodded. "I forget. Hotaru's a very complicated person, isn't she?" She stopped walking and reached into her subspace pocket, producing the time key she was gifted from Pluto at a young age. She held it up and a wide, translucent door appeared before the group. It swung open, and the girl turned to them. "Come on."

"Where exactly are we going?" Venus dared to ask.

Usa raised an eyebrow. "My home, of course. Pluto is expecting us."

"The future, Venus," Mars muttered from beside her, and Venus nodded woodenly.

The pink-haired girl stepped through the portal, and the others, looking slightly worried, followed.

* * *

End Chapter Two

This is getting fun, lol...


	4. Chapter Three

_Rabbits Through The Ages_  
Chapter Three

* * *

Sailor Moon opened her eyes. They had just stepped through the blinding white light of whatever portal it was that the future Sailor Moon had led them through. The blonde squeezed Tuxedo Kamen's hand, feeling relief that nothing had seemed to go amiss. She looked up to see him smiling down at her, and she smiled back before turning to look in front of her.

She had seen Crystal Tokyo once before. Then, it had been a dark, dead place where no life could be seen or felt. Now, as the senshi stood on the same hillside as they had years before, they looked out onto a majestic city full of life. Towering buildings rose into the sky, and the Crystal Palace stood gleaming, rising up as glittering crystals that shed light on the rest of the city.

"It's beautiful," Sailor Moon breathed, and the other senshi quickly stepped forward, surrounding her as they took in the view. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune looked especially enraptured; they had not ever seen the Crystal city.

The future Sailor Moon was sighing impatiently. "Follow me, please."

"Where are we going?" Sailor Mars asked as she walked beside the pink haired senshi.

"The observatory," the girl said. "It's in that tower." She pointed to the tallest glass structure of the palace. "Papa and Sailor Pluto created it about three years ago. It's the center of time."

"The center of time?" Mercury looked intrigued, and she stepped closer to the two at the front.

"It means that it's where Pluto watches the streams of time. She keeps track of everything there. You'll see. But that's why we call it the center of time." The girl paused. "Papa and Mama don't really allow me to go there, but because of the circumstances, they can't really stop me now, can they?" She smirked.

Sailor Moon felt a slight twinge in her stomach. Chibiusa had always been sharp-tongued, but had she always been this sharp? The Moon senshi glanced at her fiancé. He had a similar expression on his face.

They reached what looked like an entrance, and Usa stopped, turning to them. "Pluto's breaking some really big rules doing this, but she's intent that it's the best way to deal with this. But," the girl sighed heavily, pushing her gloved fingers through the fringed, light pink bangs on her forehead. "Let me stress to you all that you are in no way to learn more about this time period than what is absolutely necessary. Meaning, if we say don't look, don't look. If we say move, move. Got it?" She glanced around at most of them, but she avoided looking at Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen.

The group exchanged glances, but no one said anything. Usa turned to the wide doors she was standing in front of and opened them. She waited while the group filed in before walking inside and shutting the doors behind her. What she saw made a small smile leak onto her face. The group of senshi and Tuxedo Kamen were cramped into the small elevator. They were squished so close together that it reminded the girl of a can of sardines. She tried desperately not to laugh. "Ah, sorry for the tight squeeze. There aren't usually this many people going to the observatory at once." The girl turned to her right and opened a small glass panel and pressed in a code. They began to move upward at an extremely fast speed, and it made Sailor Moon very dizzy as she watched them move through the clear glass walls. Finally, after what felt like soaring through space, they reached the top, rightmost tower. Usa opened the doors and walked through.

They followed her down a short hallway. At the end of it, there was a small metal door. She pushed it open and waited for them to enter. As they filed inside, they saw a large circular room, covered from the ceiling to the floor with massive screens. In the middle of the room, at a small, round glass top desk, sat Sailor Pluto. She swiveled around and faced them with a grim smile. Standing, the green-haired senshi took her staff that was levitating a few inches off the ground beside her desk. She waited for the entire group to enter the room before addressing them.

"I'm very sorry to have forced you all here," she said a little sadly, though she tried to smile. "Small Lady, thank you for your assistance." Pluto inclined her head toward the pink-haired senshi, who nodded back before striding to stand beside her. Pluto turned to the screens before speaking again. "Two nights ago, I was observing the time streams and I happened across something very disturbing. The message in the sky that you all witnessed today."

Uranus arched an eyebrow and folded her arms. "Pluto, why didn't you contact us yesterday if you saw it?"

"Because it is against the law that I tell you your future, and the message had not been seen by you yet." Pluto turned, and her face was frowning. "We are, of course, breaking the law now, but as you all know this future already, we are not stepping too far away from the path, and Chronos has not yet taken any action." Her voice wavered slightly. "However, I ask you to please abide by whatever I or Small Lady ask of you. We cannot risk any more of a breach of time, so please do not ask about the future in any way. I had to bring you here to show you this." She stepped into the middle of her desk again and pressed a few clear keys. The screens began to show different images, one of which was the blue sky of the 21st century that had held the threatening message only recently.

Sailor Moon's eyes swiveled to another screen that Pluto was bringing up. She gasped and took an involuntary step back, bumping into Tuxedo Kamen's chest. The man reached out and took her arm, steadying her. "Sailor Moon."

"Gomen ne," she whispered, turning back to look at the screen.

Neptune and Uranus walked forward to stand beside Pluto. "When was this, Pluto?" Neptune asked, staring up at the scene.

"This is the night before that message appeared in your sky." The garnet-eyed senshi answered.

Sailor Moon stared up, knowing that her future daughter was staring at her as she took in the scene. Prince Demando of the Black Moon Clan was floating, in a sitting position, in the sky, in front of a black, crystal shaped palace. A palace that, terrifyingly, had the same shape and form of the beautiful Crystal Palace they were currently in. Demando, who had once worn white, formal dress suits, was now clad in complete black, with a dark cape flowing behind him. The stark contrast of his brilliantly white, chin length hair against the black made the whiteness of his skin seem almost ghostlike, and it sent shivers down Sailor Moon's spine.

"Do you have any idea where this is?" Mars was asking as Sailor Moon shook herself out of her reverie.

"None." The future Moon said, shaking her pink head. She walked close to the screen, her arms folded across her chest. "He's somehow got shields all around him. We can see this one scene, but Pluto hasn't been able to find it since."

"It's like he wanted us to know he's there, but now that we know, he's blocked me from seeing him again, so we can't find him." Pluto clicked a button, and the scene disappeared from view. Sailor Moon breathed a sigh of relief when it was gone. The look in Demando's eyes had not been pleasant to see.

"Right stupid, isn't he?" Usa smirked. "Oh, bring me the rabbit and the princess, but I'm not going to tell you where I am!" The girl growled. "Damn idiot!"

"Small Lady," Pluto said in a warning voice. She turned to face Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, who had both finally moved closer to the rest of the group. "Prince, Princess, we have no idea at this point what to expect from Demando. I've been searching the time streams for him, but at this point, he has hidden himself so well that I have no knowledge of his whereabouts."

"Do you have any idea how he's shown up again?" Jupiter asked. The small dog in her arms was still asleep, and she shifted his weight carefully.

Pluto shook her head. "Since I haven't been able to find him again, I can't detect anymore about him. We are hoping that you will have more success finding him than I have, as he is in your own time." Pluto stepped toward Sailor Jupiter. "However, this proves interesting. Why is Demando using dogs to create droids? Why not humans?"

"The thing looked like a green werewolf," Venus muttered, scrunching her nose as she remembered the smell.

Pluto stared down at the innocent dog in Jupiter's arms. "He's harmless now, back to his old self. But that's an interesting theory, Venus. Werewolves." Pluto began to mutter to herself for a moment before heading toward her desk. She sat in her chair and began to type around the circular table. Venus and Mercury peered from behind her, watching as different parts of the glass lit up.

Usa paid little attention to Pluto. She was leaning against one of the screen walls, her arms crossed and pink eyebrows furrowed deeply. "We need to discuss my involvement, Pluto."

"That is not a wise idea, Small Lady." Pluto glanced up warningly for a moment before returning to her task.

Sailor Moon looked at the girl. "Your involvement, Chibiusa?"

Usa gave her a sharp glance. "Usa." She looked away. "I'll be returning to the 21st century with you all."

There were several gasps, and Tuxedo Kamen raised an eyebrow. "Your parents surely would not approve of you being in the midst of a threat, Chi—Usa."

"I'm fourteen," Usa said, pushing herself away from the screen and standing straight, glaring across the room. "I'm the same age as Mama was when she took on Queen Beryl! She did what she had to, and so will I. He's obviously threatening me and you, Usagi." The girl took a step toward the blonde. "Seems obvious that I need to be around to—"

"You will do no such thing, Serenity Usagi!" There was a booming voice from the doorway, and many of the girls swiveled around. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune looked amused. The other girls dropped their jaws. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen glanced at each other, both feeling rather strange.

A tall, broad-shouldered man in a lavender tuxedo stepped into the room, walking with a staff at his side, a white mask donning his dark blue eyes. Behind him, a petite woman stepped up. She was clad in a long, clinging silk white dress, with gold trimmings around the strapless top. Her hair was golden and it was so long it touched the floor, and a golden crown, with a red heart jewel in the middle, sat atop her head.

Usa took a hesitating step back, and from her chair, Pluto shook her head as if to say "I told you so."

"Why do parents always use your full name when yelling, eh?" Venus muttered to Mars beside her, who gave the girl a "I would shut up if I were you" look. The blonde stifled a chuckle.

Sailor Moon was busy staring at her older, slightly taller counterpart, who was also staring back at her. Years before, they had all seen a hologram of the King, but never had she really met her own future self—awake, that is. The Queen had unwavering blue eyes, and Sailor Moon kept wondering how she was somehow taller than herself. She herself only reached Mamoru's shoulders. The Queen was up to the King's chin.

The Queen looked away from her younger self. Her hands clasped together in front of her, she took a step closer to Pluto's desk, and Usagi figured out how she was taller. She was wearing high heels. She could hear the light click of them as she walked. The surrounding senshi, Venus and Mercury, backed away, and Serenity gave them a blinking, wondering gaze before turning once again to Pluto. "Pluto, I take it you have found no more?" Sailor Moon's throat clenched. It was so strange to hear her own voice, with a wiser tone, repeated through the air. She clasped Tuxedo Kamen's hand more tightly.

"Not quite, your majesty," Pluto turned in her chair and inclined her head to the Queen. "But the past senshi have given me an interesting theory."

Neo Queen Serenity raised one eyebrow. "What would that be?"

King Endymion was watching his daughter, who was looking at anything except him. Pluto cleared her throat and stood. "Werewolves, Serenity-sama."

Venus's head snapped up. "No way, really? I was right?" She beamed at Mercury, who couldn't help but let a small giggle escape her mouth.

Pluto nodded and pointed to the dog in Jupiter's arms. "It seems that Demando is using dogs of the 21st century to use as his droids. Possibly, it is his attempt to recreate the Werewolves of Transylvania, of the time of the Silver Millenium."

Endymion finally broke his eyes away from his daughter to glance at Pluto. "Why would he do that, Pluto?"

"To create an army. It is much easier to control a dog than it is a human. The question is, how many more like this poor dog has Demando already gathered? " Pluto glanced up at the screen. She pressed a button, and an image of a wolf-like creature, standing on two hind legs, appeared before them on a screen. "This is an image of the Werewolves of Transylvania. They co-inhabited the country along with vampires, though the two were always at war with one another. So while they killed humans, they also killed each other." She explained to the senshi. "The two races were completely extinguished by the King of Earth, long before the time of Beryl and Metalia. You see, there has always been evil lurking in the kingdoms of our worlds, and it has forever been the duties of the royalty of the planets to exterminate any evil."

"From what I've read, vampires were a much more difficult matter than werewolves," Endymion noted, a frown on his face.

"Creating a race of vampires would be nearly impossible, though," Pluto remarked. "It's brilliant of Demando, if he really is creating a race of werewolves to serve him. They would be much more easily manageable."

"Unfortunately brilliant," Serenity sighed and put a willowy hand to her cheek. "What shall we do?"

"I'm going!" Usa declared, taking a step toward her parents boldly. "I'm going to the past, and I'm going to fight him!"

"Definitely not!" Endymion shook his head once, his voice firm and resolute.

Usa looked at her mother. "Mama! You know it's my job now! I'm Sailor Moon! You have to let me go!"

Serenity raised an eyebrow. "I fail to see why, Usagi." She pointed toward Sailor Moon, who flinched. "She is Sailor Moon in the 21st century. Furthermore, you are being threatened by Demando. For what reason, I know not. But you are, and it would be foolishly dangerous of you to involve yourself in the past again."

Usa's gloved fists here shaking at her sides. "So what am I supposed to do, just sit here and hide, wait for Usagi to get killed or taken by Demando?" She ground out the words between her teeth as she glared at her mother, who didn't move an inch. "You do realize if he gets her, you'll cease to exist! _I will cease to exist!_" She yelled, her eyes turning a blood red shade.

The Queen didn't move or flinch, but Sailor Moon was fidgeting with every word. Tuxedo Kamen clamped his hands down on both of her arms, holding her steady. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Keep calm." She nodded once, shakily.

"That is enough, Small Lady!" The King said so loudly that he almost shouted it, putting his staff so firmly on the floor that it made a sharp cracking noise. His daughter jumped at his words. She turned pale as she turned to look at him. He never called her that. Ever. Her lip trembling, she backed away and crossed the room to the screens once again, turning her back on the entire group. Sailor Moon saw that her shoulders were heaving, most likely with sobs.

Endymion sighed. He faced them. "I'm sorry; this is highly unorthodox, and to be honest, extremely dangerous for you all to be in this time period, as it is not your own. Pluto thought it necessary to equip you with all information she could possible give you on Demando's actions. He is in your time, but it is not for certain if he will remain in only one time strain. The Black Moon Clan transcended time in the past; they could very well do it again. The question is, who of the Black Moon family is with Demando, if any of them? As they have forced our time streams together before, we thought it only necessary that we work together once again to extinguish this threat."

Pluto continued for him. "As I told you all, there is no trace of Demando in the time streams. He's hidden very well. How he has such power, we don't know yet. I will continue to diligently monitor the time streams, and if I find anything more, I will instantly be contacting you." She glanced to Uranus and Neptune. "I would suggest, for safety purposes, that you check on Hotaru-chan. She should be fine, but if the threat is large enough, you know what will happen to her." The couple nodded, and Pluto turned to look at Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. "Most of the risk lies with you, Sailor Moon. It's obvious why Demando is after you, as it has always been." Sailor Moon flinched and glanced to Serenity, who was immovable at her husband's side. Pluto paused only inflectionally. "It would be wise if you do not stay alone until the threat is removed, and I will warn you: I will know if you try to figure out a way to go to Demando and fight him yourself."

The girl gulped, and Tuxedo Kamen's hold tightened on her arms. Pluto was staring at her with deep garnet eyes, a knowing, caring smile on her face. "Don't think for a moment that I will not be monitoring your life very carefully. Do not take any unnecessary risks."

Serenity, finally, moved. She laughed. Most everyone in the room turned to listen to the sound of tinkling bells. Only Endymion didn't move. "Really, Pluto." She stepped forward. "Usagi knows her limits, and figuring things out has never been our strong suit, has it, Usagi?" Serenity winked at Sailor Moon, which only caused her to blink. Serenity looked at Pluto. "Finding Demando's hidden dark palace is definitely not something I would be able to do, at whatever age, Pluto."

"Nonetheless, Serenity-sama," Pluto said in a low murmur, bowing slightly. "I would prefer to monitor the princess just in case... as a precaution."

Serenity had one eyebrow raised, but she nodded. "Very well, then." She glanced around at the other senshi. "I believe it would be time for you all to return home. It is very late in your own time as it is here, and if I am correct, Mercury has a very important exam tomorrow." Mercury squeaked, and Serenity laughed another tinkling giggle. Tuxedo Kamen detected Endymion rolling his eyes ever so slightly. The King caught his eye and coughed, covering a smile, before looking away.

"Pluto, if you would escort the senshi to the portal?" Serenity motioned to the time guardian, who nodded and motioned to the senshi, except Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. Serenity glanced at her daughter, who was still standing against one of the screens, leaning against it with her arms crossed. "Usagi, will you please come away from that screen before it burns a hole in your fuku? Jupiter will not be pleased if she has to sew up a burnt hole."

Glaring at her mother, Usa pushed herself away from the screen and started to stomp out of the room, but not before she heard her father's admonishment. "Don't think for a moment you can go to the portal with the senshi. I am no fool, Chibiusa. Go to your room, please." Standing in the doorway, the girl seemed to have a retort building. Her fists were shaking at her sides, but finally, after standing still for a long moment, she stomped away without saying a word.

Pluto, standing close to the door, sighed heavily. "If I had known, your majesties..."

"It is no matter, Pluto." Serenity shook her head. "She was the right person to send to the past."

The time senshi nodded and left the room, leaving the King and Queen with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, who glanced at each other worriedly.

"Forgive our daughter, please," Serenity, closest to the younger couple, clasped her hands together. "She's... well..." The Queen pursed her small lips together. By this time, her husband had come forward to stand at her side. She glanced up at him with a pleading look.

He nodded and turned to look at them. "Chibiusa's stubborn, reckless, and terribly brave. It's frightening how brave she is."

"She will try to go to the past, and I'm afraid," Serenity said. "She won't give it up, no matter what Endymion and I say. She will try to return to the 21st century, and I'm afraid she might succeed." She frowned. "She was only a child of six when she first used the time key Pluto gave her. She's too brilliant for her age." She glanced at her husband. "I blame you; she certainly didn't get that from me." She suddenly pointed a finger in the air. "Or her attitude either!"

Endymion's eyes narrowed, but he refrained from retorting. Sailor Moon, however, choked on a laugh. Tuxedo Kamen had to let her arms go, as she had doubled over, clutching her stomach as she laughed. He gave her a stern, exasperated look. "Usako!"

"I'm sorry, Mamo-chan," she said through her laughs, "But you know it's true! Chibiusa has always had the worst attitude of any kid I have ever met, and it's obviously..." She laughed harder. "Obviously not gotten any better!"

Serenity was suddenly laughing along with her, but her laughs were much lighter. Endymion looked cross as he looked at her.

Tuxedo Kamen sighed. "Chibiusa and Usako have never really... gotten along well."

"We know," Serenity beamed. Sailor Moon wiped away the few tears that had escaped her eyes from laughing. The Queen smiled at her. "It's understandable. Though don't worry," she waved a hand. "I've been getting my fair share of fights with her lately." She sighed miserably and put her hand to her cheek. "Teenagers. It's absolutely dreadful. She was our sweet little princess, and now she's a mons—"

"Serenity, love..." Endymion prodded, clearing his throat, and the Queen blinked.

"Oh, right!" She waved a hand again, this time agitatedly. "I'm so sorry, I'm keeping you behind when you should be getting to the portal." She grasped Sailor Moon's gloved hands in her own suddenly, and the Moon senshi blinked repeatedly. It was very, very strange. "Sailor Moon, I have asked so much of you when it comes to my daughter, and I hate to ask you again, but please..." The Queen's blue eyes, though like looking in a mirror, were much wiser and knew much more emotion than Sailor Moon did yet. "She will try to return to your time, and..." She glanced at her husband. "We are afraid if she does. Please, notify Pluto the second she enters your time, and watch over her."

Sailor Moon blinked. "You don't even have to ask. Of course."

Serenity let out a sigh and nodded. "I know, but I do feel terrible, when she isn't even your daughter yet. I've already asked so much of you." She glanced at Tuxedo Kamen. "We've asked too much of you both." She released Sailor Moon's hands. "Thank you."

The senshi nodded and scratched the back of her head nervously. "S-sure."

"You'd better hurry; we've kept you too long," Endymion turned to the door. He glanced at Tuxedo Kamen. "She's going to be angry with me for a while; I don't reprimand her often. Whatever you do, don't indulge her, even though I know you'll want to. She can't stay if she does happen to get to your time."

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "Of course."

"He's not used to being the bad guy," Serenity whispered to Sailor Moon as they walked out the metal door. "He spoils her."

"Serenity? What's that?" Endymion raised an eyebrow at her lowered voice.

"Nothing, love." Serenity winked at Sailor Moon, who couldn't help but grin. "Oh, and Sailor Moon, don't let anything get in the way of your wedding plans! No threat is worth putting off your dreams."

Her jaw dropped. "How did you know?"

Serenity waved a hand once again. "Of course I would know; I'm you, aren't I?"

"Yeah... weird as it is."

Serenity nodded as they reached the elevator. "Well, just follow my advice."

Endymion sighed from behind his wife."You're not supposed to be giving her advice, Serenity! Pluto will have enough trouble with Chron—"

"Oh, I'll deal with Chronos! She will not go through what I went through!" Serenity retorted, batting her husband's chest with her hand before turning to Sailor Moon once again. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen stepped into the elevator. "Listen, Usagi. When it comes to the wedding, don't ever listen to Minako-chan, always listen to Mako-chan, let Ami-chan do as she wants, make Rei maid of honor, and whatever you do, do not try putting Luna in the wedding!" Endymion suddenly choked. He looked like he was trying desperately not to laugh.

"Don't put Luna in the wedding," Sailor Moon said woodenly. "Um, got it."

Serenity smiled and waved as the doors to the elevator slid shut. The young couple looked at each other for a long moment.

"That had to be the weirdest conversation of my entire life." Sailor Moon noted. "Seeing myself... older... so weird..."

"Try going through it twice in your life." Tuxedo Kamen muttered. He leaned against the glass wall. "You know, we were always told that the Queen is much different from you."

"So?"

"She seems exactly the same to me."

Sailor Moon blinked. "Really?"

He smiled softly at her. "It seems I'm always going to be telling you to stop doing something you shouldn't be doing, while you go ahead and do it anyways. Exactly the same."

The elevator doors slid open and Pluto was waiting for them. Sailor Moon turned to look at her fiancé and gave him a slight smirk. "Least it means I will always get my way." She flipped her two locks of hair behind her before she started to walk toward Pluto and the portal.

Tuxedo Kamen laughed and followed, catching up to her and taking her arm through his. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

Serenity looked down at the younger versions of herself and her husband as they walked together, arm in arm, toward Sailor Pluto waiting for them. She smiled softly from her perch on a high balcony outside her bedroom. A full moon had risen beautifully in the sky, sending sparkles all through the Crystal Palace.

"You should not have told her that, Usako," Her husband's breath was suddenly in her ear, and she shivered as she felt his arms wrap around her.

"I know." She sighed and leaned back against his chest. The three had vanished into the portal. "I just want one thing in her life to go easier than mine. If I can save her from having Luna practically bite her arm off at the suggestion that she wear a dress and have a pillow tied to her back so she can be a ring bearer along with Artemis..." she trailed off and shook her head, a flustered look on her face. Endymion couldn't help but grin. "Anyways. She seems to have it so much harder than me. I mean, think about it. As sick as I was of fighting, at least there was no threat when we married. And they've done so much for Chibiusa, when they shouldn't have to."

"It's fairly amusing that it's the first time you've actually thought to help yourself for once, and it still not actually _you_," he chuckled, kissed her earlobe softly, and changed the subject. "You still call her Chibiusa only to me, huh?"

"She would hate it if I still referred to her as Chibiusa, Mamo-chan," Serenity sighed. "She's so intent on being an adult."

"She lets me, though."

"And don't gloat about it, either!" She swatted the side of his head as she leaned against him. "Though she may not anymore after today. How was that?"

"The most excruciating thing I think I've ever had to do."

"Worse than having your star seed taken?"

"Ah, you joke, but my heart was literally breaking. I don't think I've ever seen her look so betrayed as when I called her Small Lady."

"Joys of parenting. Sometimes, you have to break their hearts."

"Indeed."

"I'm used to her being upset with me these days. Part of being a teenager; I fought with my mother constantly when I was her age. Of course, it usually involved food," She paused. "Anyways. Her being upset with you is going to be a whole different experience."

"Don't remind me."

She laughed and turned in his arms, putting her arms around his neck. "It was strange, looking at the younger version of you again." She ran her fingers through his hair, and he felt a slight pinch. She held up a gray hair between them. "Before you had these."

His eyes narrowed. "Those do start showing up after a few thousand years, yes."

She laughed and leaned against his chest. "I always used to think you were the most handsome man."

"Do you want me to take you to the 21st century so you can swap, Serenity?" His tone sounded ever so slightly hurt, and she grinned.

She leaned her head back and pulled herself up, her arms clinging tightly around his neck so that her nose pressed against his softly. "Silly man, I was just about to say that I was wrong; it seems it took several thousand years before you were truly the most handsome man."

"I desperately want to roll my eyes right now, but I am refraining, love." His tone, however, had changed to a lighter, teasing one.

"I would be highly offended if you did."

"Therefore I am refraining." He softly pressed his lips against hers, before wrapping his arms around her more tightly and carrying her inside. "It's been an extremely long day, Usako." He laid her down on their bed, sitting at her side and leaning down so that their faces were barely touching. "I believe I want to spend this night making love to my beautiful wife," he kissed her softly, and she laughed into his kiss. "We can go back to parenting and ruling the Earth tomorrow."

She nodded against the pillows and pulled his face down to hers again. "Life can go on tomorrow."

* * *

End Chapter Three

Okay, that was just too much fun. I have always, always wanted to write a scene where the future King and Queen are in a conversation with their past counterparts. I've always been fascinated by the whole dynamic of it, ever since that one episode in R where Tuxedo Kamen actually **does** face his future self and speaks to him. It's just so freaking cool! Hah... yes, loser moment right there, lol! But anyways, I really wanted to write one where Usagi talks with her future self too. It was awesomely fun! Lol.

***Secluded Sapphire**, I sort of used your idea in this chapter... about Usagi and her selflessness? :) Not quite, but I mentioned it! :P

And those of you whom I've disappointed because I've made Chibiusa (or Usa) a rather moody teenager, well... I'm sorry. But she is a teenager, and come on... Chibiusa's always had attitude. I've got plans for her, don't worry, don't worry...

Thanks to everyone for the supportive reviews, and hope you all like this chapter. Hope it's not too thick with explanations that don't make sense.

Btw, any usage of "werewolves" I use will try to incorporate the idea of those used in the Transylvania series of SeraMyu Musicals (so there is a Sailor Moon connection, no worries). I'll try to make sure about that. They're not heavily involved in the series, but I remember they were there.

Though I will say, I watched the Underworld movies recently, and when I think werewolves, I think big scary monsters. Not seventeen year old kids who think Bella is da bomb.

…...okay, sorry, I had to do it. Ahem. I even like Twilight, lol. I still had to do it.


	5. Chapter Four

I am really sorry for the long span between updates, but I've had a horrible time here lately. Friend problems, online class work, air conditioner went out (who wants to do ANYTHING in the heat?), and now I'm sick with some terrible kind of virus that I'm not sure what it is... fever, shaking chills all over, dizziness, nausea... who knows. I'm hoping it's a 24 hour bug. It's okay right now, I've got all kinds of good drugs in my system, lol. Ibuprofen and antibiotics and stuff lol.

But I'm going to try and write through it all, because I have had this stuff swirling in my brain for days, just dying to get out. Lol. The first half was written Monday, during the first day of the A/C fiasco (believe me. You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT live in the South without A/C. It would be OMG horrible.) and I tried to write through the heat, till it got to the point where I was like "It's TOO HOT!"

Yeah. Lol.

_Rabbits Through The Ages_  
Chapter Four

* * *

Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon stepped through the portal. Sailor Moon opened her eyes and looked to see the senshi all standing in front of her. They were back in the Azubu Shopping District, and only a few of the street lamps were lit. It was quite late if the lamps had already been turned off.

Sailor Pluto stood in front of the portal. "I have to leave you now. I wish I could stay with you, but I am needed at the center of time. I will contact you if I find any more information on our enemy, but please, be on the lookout. Neptune, Uranus." She turned to her fellow outer senshi. "Remember the mission I have given you." The two glanced at each other before turning to Pluto with firm nods. The garnet eyed senshi didn't smile, and she nodded back. "If you need to contact me, use your mirror, Neptune. Seek my soul."

"Of course," Sailor Neptune replied. Sailor Moon wondered what Pluto meant, but she had no time to ask. The dark green-haired senshi strode into the portal and did not glance back as she left. It was quiet for a long moment while the entire group simply stood and watched as the light of the portal faded away into the darkness. After a while, Neptune and Uranus turned and began to walk away.

"Uranus! Neptune!" Sailor Moon broke into a half-run and started toward them.

Sailor Uranus turned. She smiled down at the short, blonde senshi. She placed both of her hands on Sailor Moon's upper arms. "Pluto gave us a mission, Sailor Moon. We have to follow it, to protect you. Don't worry for us, and stay safe!" A drawling grin appeared across the ash-blonde woman's face. "Don't do anything stupid, Neko-chan. We'll be in touch." Sailor Moon blinked as Uranus released her arms. She looked at Sailor Neptune, who simply gave her a graceful smile and nod before following after her partner. The winged senshi watched as they disappeared into the night.

"Sailor Moon," she heard Sailor Mercury call. Sailor Moon jumped. She turned back to the other senshi, who all stood in the same spot waiting for her. She ran up and joined them. Mercury gave her a grim look. "Sailor Moon, Pluto entrusted Neptune and Uranus to the task of finding Demando in this time. That's their mission. She told them while you and Tuxedo Kamen were still in the palace."

"Finding Demando?" Sailor Moon breathed. "By themselves? They can't do that! They could be killed!"

"I wouldn't underestimate those two, Sailor Moon," Jupiter was glancing into the darkness where they had disappeared. "They're pretty powerful on their own. Besides, she said to find him. Not for them to act. They're supposed to report to Pluto when they find him." Jupiter glanced down at her small charge. He was awake now and looking at her with large, curious brown eyes. She patted his head.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Sailor Moon started, her voice taking on a slight snap, but she suddenly stopped before she made more of her sentiments known. She found herself feeling exactly the way Usa had in the palace. Was she expected to sit and wait around as well?

"Our mission is to protect you, as it has always been," Sailor Mars said firmly, walking up and putting her arms on both of the senshi's shoulders. "You heard Uranus. Don't do anything stupid!"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Sailor Moon grumbled, sighing loudly.

"Because we know you too well," Sailor Mercury gave her a sympathetic smile. "But it's very late, and the Queen was right. I do have an exam tomorrow." She cleared her throat and grinned sheepishly. "Usagi-chan is staying at the temple tonight, of course, but we'll have to figure out the rotation schedule after that."

"Wait, what?" Sailor Moon glanced around at them all. "What are you talking about?"

"We decided that you're going to be staying with us," Sailor Venus said. "It's the best way for us to protect you, if you're always with one of us."

The girl blinked. "My parents—"

"I really don't think they'll care," Sailor Mars grinned. "You never ask anymore to stay with any of us anyways."

Sailor Venus suddenly materialized back into Aino Minako. The others glanced at her before following suit. "Besides, one of us will stay with you at your house if we need to."

Mamoru had been quiet up until this point, but now he cleared his throat. The group all turned to glance at him. "She's staying with me after tonight," he said quietly.

Rei raised an eyebrow. Ami blinked and her jaw dropped. Minako looked antsy, and Makoto grinned. Usagi looked similar to Ami. "Mamo-chan?" She pulled away from Rei and walked up to him.

"You're staying with me," he said again, firmly. He took one of her hands. "Demando tried to take you from me once before; he won't do it again." He glanced at the girls who were all still gawking at him. "I'm sure you'll understand why I want her with me. She can go home with you tonight, Rei-chan, since she was going to anyways."

Rei frowned. She glanced at Makoto beside her, who simply shrugged. "Well, alright."

Minako was frowning as well, and her arms were crossed across her chest. "We'll be checking on her regularly."

"That's fine." the man answered. Minako's blue eyes narrowed and she stared back into his darker ones. Usagi blinked and glanced between the two.

"We could check on her at anytime," Minako emphasized, leaning forward.

"I said it's fine, Minako-chan." Mamoru said once again, calmly. There was no hint of impatience in his eyes.

"_Anytime,_" Minako hissed.

"Minako-chan, what are you getting at?" Usagi asked, blinking her eyes.

"He better not try any funny business!" The girl yelled suddenly, breaking her arms apart and pointing at him shrilly. "I mean it, Chiba Mamoru-san! You will see the ugly side of the senshi of love if you do anything!"

The other senshi were blinking around at each other. Usually, Minako was the one who could care less if any 'funny business' happened. Rei put a hand on Minako's shoulder. "Minako-chan, what's up with you?"

"We can't let anything happen, that's what! What, and have _another_ Chibiusa running around while we're trying to fend off stupid Demando?" The blonde haired girl was still glaring at Mamoru, who looked back at her calmly. "I am the leader of the senshi, so it's even more my responsibility than anybody else's to protect Usagi-chan. Even if that means protecting her from him!"

"You're being absurd, Minako-chan! The logistics of it are very wrong! It would be nine months before Chibiusa was even... even..." Ami, blushing profusely, was sputtering as she flailed her hands around Minako. "A-anyways! I-I h-highly doubt Mamoru-san would do anything un-untoward with Usagi-chan!" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Minako-chan, they've been together for over five years now. If anything was going to happen, it would have already!"

"There's always a chance, Ami-chan! O thou innocent Ami-chan," Minako clapped a hand down on Ami's shoulder, causing the girl to bowl over. "Temptation is a vile, risky... err... tempter!" She pointed at Mamoru once again. "I, Sailor Venus, senshi, and might I add, goddess, of love, will not let any man defile our princess!" Makoto was snorting with laughter at Minako's proclamation, while Usagi had gone beet red. She covered her face with her hands. Minako continued to rant. "Love should be just and good and pure and—"

"Oh, can it, Minako-chan," Rei rolled her eyes and began to pull the girl away. "Come on, you're staying at the temple with us tonight, too, since you so stood that guy up."

"Oh my GOD! You're right! NO! He was so HOT! Damn it, Rei-chan! Damn it!"

The other senshi, with Ami still twitching as she looked up from her spot on her knees on the ground, watched as Rei patted Minako's back as they walked away. Minako's rant was erased completely from her mind as she tried to figure out if the guy would forgive her if she called and explained that she had had an emergency. Rei was trying to be sympathetic, but was becoming highly annoyed instead.

Makoto snorted and shook her head. The dog in her arms barked happily once. "Seriously, that girl. Come on, Usagi-chan. I'm going to the temple tonight, too. Hope Rei-chan doesn't mind Runt here."

"That is a horrible name for a dog," Ami said, looking up at the skinny creature.

Makoto shrugged. "Well, he is a little bit of runt!" She patted his head again. "At least till I get him fed up!"

"You're keeping him?" Usagi asked, trying to pull her thoughts away from Minako's absurd outburst.

"I think so," Makoto said as she affectionately scratched behind the dog's small ears. "He looks like he could use some love." She glanced down at Ami-chan. "Come on, Ami-chan. You might as well come stay at the temple, too. You missed your studying tonight, anyways. Might as well come spend the rest of the night with us, ne?"

Ami nodded woodenly and took Makoto's outstretched hand, pulling herself up. Makoto gave Usagi a look. "We'll be waiting for you over there, Usagi-chan." She nodded her head to the side. "Don't be too long." The two girls, with Makoto's new dog staring back as he rested on Makoto's shoulder, walked away to give the couple some privacy.

Usagi glanced at Mamoru. "Um, were you expecting Minako-chan to do that?"

"I was expecting it from Rei or Makoto, honestly," he muttered. "But I knew to expect at least one outburst." He sighed and leaned down to place a soft kiss on her forehead. "You'd better hurry and go with them, before someone else does decide to come back and start yelling at me again." She couldn't help but giggle. He grinned down at her. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded. "We're still telling them tomorrow, Mamo-chan."

"I know." He blinked. "Hey, it might even help my case."

"Eh?"

"You know, the outbursts about your virtue. They might be happier if they know we're engaged." She turned red once again and he chuckled, shaking his head. "Oyasumi, Usako." He kissed her softly, and she started to sink into his arms for a longer kiss, except he pushed her away gently and shook his head. "You want me to be screamed at, don't you?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Gomen ne, Mamo-chan." She pulled away from his arms and started to jog away to where Ami and Makoto where waiting. "Oyasumi!"

He stood and watched the three girls walk away, his hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face. He turned in the opposite direction and started to walk to his apartment. The darkness was thick and it felt heavy all around him as the night lamps grew scarce.

He frowned. Even if it was two or three in the morning, there were usually more street lamps on than this. He stopped and glanced up at one that was off. Then his eyes caught another one that was blinking dimly before it suddenly went out as well. He felt chills run down his spine as he watched the light disappear. A swirling, dark mist had appeared inside the lamp to take its place, and it grew darker to match the other pitch black lamps. He could feel something evil within them, and he pushed himself into a quicker, half-jogging canter. Something was spreading a heavy darkness through the city, and he had a sickening feeling that Demando was the culprit. As he reached his apartment building, he noticed that it, too, was darker than usual, but he hoped it was simply because most people would be asleep by now. He entered the building and was thankful when the light hit his skin. He breathed a sigh of relief and headed toward the elevator.

As the doors shut behind him, he leaned back against the wall and shut his eyes. He had never been scared of the darkness as a child. There had been too many other things in his life that were terrifying, like being alone and not remembering who he was, to worry about the darkness. But the darkness outside was scaring him, because he could feel it. He winced as he thought about it. He could feel it alright. Darkness was on Earth, and he was Earth. So the darkness spreading outside was probably spreading inside him as well.

The elevator doors opened and he headed down the hallway to his door. Unlocking it, he pushed it open, flipped on the light, and entered the room, before shutting and locking the door. He slipped off his shoes and walked into the living room.

"What the hell took you so long?" A pink-haired teenager was sitting on his sofa, her arms crossed across her chest. Clad in jeans shorts, tennis shoes, and a pink t-shirt, the girl looked remarkably like Usagi.

Mamoru's jaw dropped. "Chibiusa!"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess _you_ can call me that." She stood, strode up to him, and narrowed her red eyes. "Seriously, though. I thought you guys had gotten lost in the portal or something. I've been here forever!"

"How—how long is forever?" Mamoru tried to shake his head. He headed for a sofa and sat down, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees while rubbing his temples.

"Since Papa told me to go to my room," she muttered, shifting from one foot to the other. "He forgot that I can time travel anytime I want. I do have the time key with me."

Mamoru sighed. "Chibiusa, you have to go back."

"No way!"

"Your parents told Usako and I to make sure you returned to the future... just in case you decided to show up here." He frowned at her as tears began swimming in her eyes. "Don't start that! It's not going to work. We promised them, and you're in too much danger to be here."

"UGH! Mamo-chan!" She yelled, and she fell backwards in an armchair adjacent to him. "You are just like Papa!"

He smirked. "Well, I sort of _am_, Chibiusa."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm not going back!"

"You are," he sighed heavily. "In the morning. It's too late, and I'm too tired to try and contact Pluto now."

A slight grin tugged at her lips. "So I'm staying for the night."

Rubbing his temples, Mamoru let out another sigh. "I suppose so." Chibiusa watched as Mamoru pushed himself up off the couch and headed toward his bedroom. He glanced at her momentarily, his hand on the doorknob. "It's very late, I'm very tired, and this darkness is really hurting." Chibiusa raised one pink eyebrow and was about to ask what he meant when he pushed his door open. He stood still for a moment longer with his back to her. "You know where the guest room is, Chibiusa." He shut the door behind him and left her sitting alone in the living room.

The teenager pursed her lips together and stared at his closed door for a long moment. "The darkness? Hurting?" She wondered to herself in a whisper. Glancing out at the balcony, she felt intrigued. She stood and made her way outside, stepping around the single chair that sat on the small, stone balcony. She leaned over the railing and looked out onto the city. She felt chills pervade her skin as she looked at it. There was a strange darkness about the city that had nothing to do with the time of night. As she watched, more and more lights seemed to be dying.

Feeling exposed and wary, the girl backed into the apartment again, and shut and locked the glass door. She pulled the curtains over it and turned to glance over the apartment. Not many things had changed since she had last visited Mamoru here. All the furniture was the exact same: two beige couches and a matching armchair, a glass-top coffee table, glass television stand, and simple, plain decorations that only included a vase of red roses and a few photos of Usagi, herself as a child, and Mamoru. She walked up to one of the end tables and grabbed the framed photo that sat on it. She smiled, because she had found something new. It was a much more recent picture of Usagi that she hadn't seen. The girl had aged, and she did, indeed, look very much like Usa's mother. Her crystal blue eyes had aged, looking slightly wiser with all the things she'd seen as a senshi, but yet there weren't any light wrinkles that Serenity had present around her eyes. Usa teased her mother about them every once in a while, when she was actually close enough to her mother to see the very small crow lines that were hardly visible.

Usa shivered involuntarily. It felt very, very strange to think that Usagi really was her mother. She had always known it, of course, but she'd never really felt it. But the picture looked too much like her mother now for her to deny it. Usa put the picture down and frowned. She wanted to talk to Usagi. Perhaps she would be more willing to let her stay than anyone else would. They were the ones being threatened, after all. Perhaps Usagi was just the person to take her side. The girl glanced toward Mamoru's room. He had seemed exhausted, so he was probably already asleep, and he would never notice that she was gone.

Where would Usagi be? Pluto had said for the senshi to watch Sailor Moon closely, so they would probably all be together. "The temple, duh," she surmised, thinking of the Hikawa shrine where the senshi had always congregated. Taking a deep breath, she left the apartment and closed the door quietly behind her.

* * *

"OUCH! DAMN IT, MINAKO!"

"Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai!"

"Rei, please stop yelling at her! It's after three in the morning!"

"Yeah, seriously. Listen to Ami-chan! Some of us have wedding cakes to worry about delivering tomorrow! Runt and I are trying to sleep!"

"Mako-chan, get that nasty, scrawny dog out of my bedroom, NOW! It can sleep outside!"

"No way! It's creepy out there; Runt will be scared, won't you baby? Won't you? Aren't you a good little boy?"

"Mako-chan, I hate to tell you this, but I think that dog is actually a girl."

"No way! Usagi-chan, it can't... oh shit, it's a girl."

Usagi and Minako, in sleeping bags in the center of the room, burst into giggles as they watched Makoto, across from them, lifting up the dog's leg to check its gender. Makoto glared at them for a long moment before patting Runt on the head. The dog curled up, once again, to go back to sleep. Rei glared at the blonde twins as well, but mostly from annoyance at having a sore foot. Minako had dropped her hair bow on the floor in front of Rei's bed, and Rei, of course, had stepped on the metal clip. She rubbed the bottom of her foot and winced.

Ami, from her sleeping bag on Makoto's other side (away from the dog; she was a cat person, after all), sighed and tried to burrow deeper, away from the noise all the girls were making. How was she ever supposed to pass her exam if they wouldn't let her get any rest?

Rei climbed into her bed, finally, and shut off the lights. Minako and Usagi made yelping noises as the room was enveloped in a deep darkness, and Rei rolled her eyes. Makoto, however, turned on a night light that was plugged into Rei's wall. "Mako-chan!" Rei yelled, sitting up and shaking her fist at the brunette. "I have to have complete darkness when I sleep!"

"Then why do you have a night light?" Makoto raised her eyebrows.

"It's for, er, emergencies."

"Like what?"

"Like, um, you know..."

"...like what?"

Usagi and Minako, their blue eyes wide, were staring at Rei with rapt interest. Rei, flushed, cleared her throat, and scratched her head. "It's for, um... when there are...fwndrshrowms..." She mumbled.

"For what?"

"THUNDERSTORMS, DAMN IT, MAKO-CHAN! THUNDERSTORMS!"

Makoto blinked her green eyes at the fire senshi for a long moment, watching as the girl's chest heaved up and down from screaming. Then she grinned. "That is hilarious. Does that mean you're scared of me, Rei-chan? I can weild thunder, you know."

"Shut UP, Makoto."

"Supreeeeme Thunnn—"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Usagi and Minako were too busy rolling around in laughter in their sleeping bags to comment. Makoto started to guffaw with laughter as well, pounding the floor with her open hand. Ami sighed. No sleep. She was going to make a B and her life was going to be over.

"Hey, what was that?" Minako suddenly sat up, pulling her blanket around her. She shivered. "Did you guys hear that?"

Makoto raised an eyebrow. Rei clapped her mouth shut. Ami peeked out of her sleeping bag. There was a scratching noise at the screen door, and as the girls watched, a large shadow floated past the door.

Usagi screamed. "THERE'S SOMETHING OUT THERE!"

Minako screamed and latched her arms around Usagi. The two began to wail together, their voices sounding more shrill than a pair of banshees. Makoto winced and got out of her sleeping bag. She knocked the two wailing blondes out of her way and edged toward the door. Rei, from her perch on her bed, leaned forward with her violet eyes wide and watching. Minako and Usagi continued to sob, while Ami, pale, laid burrowed in her sleeping bag, her eyes poking out.

Makoto slid the door open ever so slightly and looked out with one eye. The girls inside waited with baited breath as she surveyed the area. "Guys, I don't see anything." She whispered. She opened the door a little more and stuck her head out. "Hellooo? Any big scary monsters here who want to eat a couple of blondes?"

Usagi and Minako glanced at each other for a long, silent moment. Then their arms wrapped around each other again and they began to wail at the top of their lungs. Makoto, grinning, ducked back inside and looked at them. "Just kidding, guys, jeez." Someone put a hand on Makoto's shoulder at that moment, though, and the girl screamed, rivaling Usagi and Minako for shrillness. She jumped into the air, doubled over, and fell into the middle of the floor. The others swiveled their heads to see what it was. A pink-haired teenager looked back at them.

"Er, sorry about that, Mako-chan," she blinked.

Makoto looked up from the floor, two waterfalls of painful tears flowing down her face. "Owww."

Minako sniffed and looked up. Ami pulled herself out of her sleeping bag. Rei breathed a sigh of relief, while making sure no one actually saw her do so. Usagi jumped up. "Usa!"

"Hey, Usagi." The teenager grinned sheepishly, pulling the screen door closed behind her. "I came to talk to you."

"You're supposed to be in the future! Your parents—"

"Yeah I know, Mamo-chan already said I have to go back," Usa rolled her eyes.

Usagi blinked, her jaw dropping. "You've already been to see Mamo-chan?"

"Well, technically, he thinks I'm asleep in his guest bedroom," She shifted on her feet and grinned. "But I just had to come and talk to you."

"About what?"

Usa looked around at the other girls. "About why I should stay and fight with you."

* * *

Mamoru shut the door to his bedroom and leaned against it, sighing heavily as he felt his head pound. He could hear Chibiusa walking outside on the balcony, and he felt an itching desire to go stop her from being in the darkness, but he forced himself to stay put. One thing about the girl was that she was very, very much like Usagi. She seemed to radiate light.

So he forced himself not to worry. He opened his eyes only to be greeted by complete darkness, and he sighed. He flipped on his bedroom light. He frowned, because it didn't turn on. He tried once again, and sighed again when it still didn't turn on. He walked into the room and felt his way to the bedside table. Reaching to turn on the lamp, he felt even more chills go up his spine when it wouldn't turn on either. He heard the apartment door close. Where was Chibiusa going?

"Finally," he heard something hiss.

Mamoru's blood ran cold and he whipped around. A dim light suddenly lit the room from his ceiling light fixture, but he knew it wasn't a light bulb, because it gave the room a blood-red color. He looked in the corner of the room where he saw a dark mass. His eyes narrowed as he tried to find a shape, and suddenly it moved. He gasped and took a step back, knocking the beside lamp off the table and making it fall, crashing, to the floor.

Then, the darkness left, because a dark cape that had been covering a man flew out from behind him instead, and he took a step forward. Mamoru gasped when the red light hit him.

The man, as tall as Mamoru with ice white hair and startlingly pale blue eyes and icy white skin that matched his hair, stood staring at Mamoru with no hint of a smile of any kind on his face. His face looked so startlingly dead that Mamoru wouldn't know he was alive if he hadn't just moved in front of him. Mamoru found himself staring at the man's eyes. Had they always been that terrifyingly light?

"Hello, Endymion," he said, and Mamoru tensed. The voice was exactly the same as he had remembered, soft and deep with a slight menace to it that was so subtle you wouldn't be able to recognize it if you didn't know it.

"Demando," Mamoru replied in kind, gripping his fists at his sides. He dug his shoes into the carpet, hoping to remain standing at all costs. Was Demando about to try and attack him? Kill him?

The pale man, clad in complete black from his cape to his black suit, was missing one element of his past that startled Mamoru. The Black Moon symbol that had previously rested on his forehead was nowhere to be seen. Mamoru kept staring, wondering what it meant, but Demando began to speak, and he ripped his eyes away from the man's forehead.

"I had to wait for your..." Demando frowned severely. "Your offspring to leave."

"Chibiusa?" Mamoru blinked.

"I cannot touch the rabbit, it seems," Demando murmured softly. He began to take small steps around the bed toward Mamoru. "She is of Moon as well as Earth. I suppose it makes her immune."

"Immune? Immune to what?" Mamoru felt his voice rising as fear was spreading through him. The deadness of Demando's eyes was the most terrifying thing about him.

Demando ignored him. He drew one long, thin finger across one of the bedposts, staring down at it. "I had quite hoped that the rabbit would not have so much of her mother's light in her." The pale blue eyes flashed up to Mamoru. "If she had more Earth in her like yourself, she would have been much easier for me to obtain. As it is," Demando sighed mournfully, "it seems I shall have to stick to my original plan. She would have been very easy prey, sitting alone in her past father's apartment. If only her light did not repel me." The man smirked. "I am yet too weak to fight her light. Always too weak. Never has anything been easy for me, Endymion. As I'm sure you're aware, you are one of the causes of that yourself." Demando took another step forward, and Mamoru took one back, bumping into the wall.

"What do you want, Demando? Usagi? You've tried before, and you know she doesn't love you."

Demando, his lips pursed together, stared at Mamoru as if he was looking through him to the wall. "I've done my research this time, Endymion." He glanced across the room at a picture that was sitting on Mamoru's dresser. He frowned at it. It was of Mamoru and Usagi sitting together on a park bench. He walked up to it. "I only sought Serenity before. I did not think, did not plan. My want of her clouded my senses." Demando glanced back at the dark-haired man. "I did not factor you in. I have never factored in you or the King. You shall be the key to my success."

Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "I don't under—"

"Diversions, I have learned, prince, are the key to anyone's success," Demando suddenly picked the picture frame up and sliced it through the air, watching as it soared into the opposite wall and crashed into the floor, a pile of glass and a ripped photograph. "Give the senshi something to hunt for, something to distract them while I achieve my true goals." Mamoru said nothing, He gripped his fists together and stared at Demando. The white-haired man stared back at him. "A blood message in the sky is a sure way of gaining their attention." He laughed, and Mamoru winced at the harshness of the sound. "It sent Pluto hunting through time for me, and it diverted these new outer senshi I have researched. They are quite powerful, I see. Send them looking for my palace, and I get rid of them as well as keep Pluto completely distracted. I have kept her eyes on Serenity and the rabbit." Suddenly, a haunting, piercing grin covered Demando's hollow, pale face. "No one's eyes are watching you."

Mamoru felt coldness spread through him. "What do you want with me?"

"What I've always wanted from you," Demando's pale eyes flared. "Your life." Another hissing sound left him as he took another step closer to him. "You have Serenity, and she is what I want." He suddenly turned away from Mamoru and took a few steps away. He remained standing with his back to him. "Of course, as I thought of what I should do in order for my plan to succeed, this was the only logical conclusion that I came to."

"And what is that?"

"Use Serenity herself to kill you." Demando's haunting grin covered his face again as he turned to look at the other man once again. Something small and black had appeared in his hand. Mamoru's eyes narrowed in the dim red light to look at it. "This stone, Endymion, will suck you of your life anytime Serenity is near you. You see, there is one flaw in my new life." Demando frowned heavily. "When I was given my new life, I did not know of this horrible side effect. It could, without my perfected plan, lead to my own demise." He paused. "Light can kill me. And not just simply daylight, but pure light. The light within Serenity would surely be my downfall, should I get too close to her." Demando took a step forward. "This stone contains some of my blood." He held it up, and Mamoru flinched. Inside the cylindrical shaped stone, exactly like the black earrings hanging from Demando's ears, a liquid splashed around. "If I plant this inside you, Serenity will undoubtedly suck your life energy away every time she is near."

Mamoru's heart was beating rapidly in his chest. "What are you? How are you alive?"

Demando raised an eyebrow. "Neither question is one I believe you need to be concerned with."

"If Sailor Moon can kill you by getting near you, then the second the senshi find you, you'll die." Mamoru ground out of his teeth, his fists shaking.

"And they will find me," Demando grinned. "I plan for Uranus and Neptune to find me. And I very much plan on Serenity and I seeing each other again."

"But..."

"I only need to immunize Serenity's power of light," Demando chuckled darkly. "I have a plan for this, Endymion. She will be mine this time, make no mistake. Your death will finally be my victory." The haunted, hollow look in Demando's eyes pierced into Mamoru. "My timing must be impeccable, though," His eyes flared. "I must achieve my plan before your death, or it will never work."

Confused, Mamoru opened his mouth to speak. Suddenly his eyes narrowed. "You need Chibiusa. She wouldn't exist without me alive."

"Yes."

"What are you going to do with her?"

"That is something that is also not your concern."

"_She's my daughter!_"

"She will soon be more like me than you." Demando noticed that Mamoru took a step forward, and the pale man grinned. "I would not try to attack me if I were you. I could very easily make you very much like me as well. Which I have thought of. You would be a good addition. However, your death rings more lightly in my ears." Demando lifted up his hand, and the stone flew out of it.

Mamoru took a step back, but he gasped when suddenly he felt something incredibly cold rush through his veins. He dropped to the floor and grabbed his chest as the searing, icy feeling flooded through him. After a long, painful moment, it ceased, and his eyes darted up to see Demando standing with the still, deathlike expression from before.

"If you stay away from Serenity, you will live much longer," Demando said hollowly, his eyes reflecting no emotion. "Only her light seems to have an effect. I would have already made her mine if it was as simple as stealing to her bed at night and taking her."

"You bastard," Mamoru tried to stand, but the ice seemed to attack him again. He hissed, wincing, and fell back down.

Demando raised an eyebrow. "I also forgot to mention that as my blood is in that stone, I control you. Completely. If I want you to feel pain, you will." The pale man glanced outside. "Ah, and the sun is beginning to rise. Daylight does not kill me, but it isn't pleasant to stand in."

He started to head toward the single window in the room. Without turning to look at Mamoru, who was still grasping his chest and breathing heavily on the floor, he spoke once more. "As I said, I control you. I will know everything you do or say. You are not to mention one single word of this to another living soul, and I will know." His pale eyes flared back at him. "I will be watching you, Endymion. No one's protective eyes were on you, but mine will most certainly be." Turning into the fast approaching light, Demando leaped lightly out of the open window and disappeared.

Mamoru heaved with breath for a long time, but finally he wrenched himself up and collapsed onto the bed. He fell into a heavy, nightmare-ridden sleep.

* * *

"You cannot stay and fight with us," Makoto said from behind Usagi. Usagi stood staring at her future daughter, who wore a firm, decided expression across her face.

Usagi shook her head wildly and focused on Usa once again. "Mako-chan's right. You can't stay. Mamo-chan and I promised the king and queen we would send you home."

Usa rolled her red eyes and took Usagi's arm. "I want to speak to you alone, now." She wrenched open the screen door and stepped outside, pulling the shorter blonde behind her.

The other four girls in the room looked at each other, wondering if they should follow for their protection or give the mother and daughter privacy.

Usa turned to Usagi once she had walked far away enough from the temple, underneath a cherry blossom tree. "Demando's coming after us, Usagi."

"Yes, I know..."

"And you want me to remain safe in the future while you're being attacked? Are you crazy? I'm just as entitled to fight with you as any other senshi." The pink haired girl frowned heavily. "I have fought with you! For years! There's no reason I shouldn't do so now. You and Mamo-chan can take care of me here just like Mama and Papa can at home. I'm fourteen now, and I can help. I'm not some little powerless kid anymore. I'm a true, powerful senshi." She was watching Usagi with full, determined red eyes. Suddenly the expression in them changed into a haughty one. "Papa once told me he thought I was more powerful than you were when you were fourteen. He does actually believe in me when he's not trying to be overprotective."

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "Your _father_ said that?"

Usa looked away and cleared her throat. "Mama was nearby and she did smack him for it, don't worry. She didn't exactly appreciate it, either."

"Good." Usagi made a 'hmph' sound in her throat.

"But the point is, I'm strong." Usa gripped Usagi's arms. "A lot of people say it's because I have both Moon and Earth powers, and it's made me much more powerful. I can wield both the Ginzuishou and the Golden Crystal."

"How would you know that?" Usagi blanched, her hand springing up to her mouth.

"Erm... never mind that." Usa cleared her throat and scratched her head, loping her other arm behind her back. "I didn't say that, okay? Anyways, I want to help, and you guys can't just send me back without letting me. I helped during everything before and I was just a kid back then; I definitely want to help now!"

"Your parents..."

"Are being way too overprotective."

Usagi sighed. "Chibiusa, please."

Usa winced. "Usa." She took a step back from Usagi. "Wow, you really do look too much like Mama now. It's freaking me out."

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "You know, you keep forgetting—"

"I know, I know. You are my mother. I heard it from Mamo-chan, too." Usa sighed. "Just, please?" She clasped her hands together and looked at Usagi with pleading eyes. "Everyone's all about protecting me, but it's like, it's just as much my job to fight as it is theirs. Surely you understand, Usagi?"

Usagi winced. The girl knew exactly how to hit a nerve. She glanced at her future daughter and saw that girl knew she was hitting that particular nerve. She sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll talk to Mamo-chan about it."

"YES!" Usa squealed, jumping onto Usagi with a crushing hug. Usagi felt awkward. Usa was a very tall teenage girl. It felt very strange to have the once small child hugging her from above instead of below.

Usagi glanced around and noticed the sky was finally beginning to lighten. "Thank goodness. It's been so dark."

Usa looked to see that Usagi was staring at the slightest traces of the sunrise coming. "It must be nearing five?"

"Something like that."

"Mamo-chan was afraid of the darkness earlier, too."

"What?" Usagi looked up at Usa. The pink-haired girl nodded.

"He said it was hurting him."

"Hurting him?" Usagi whispered. "The darkness was... hurting him?" She shivered involuntarily, worry beginning to creep around her.

"I don't really understand it, either." Usa mumbled, raking a hand through her light pink bangs. "Should we go inside and see about getting a little sleep? You all were really noisy earlier. I wonder if they're all still yelling at each other about night lights and dogs being girls?"

Usagi couldn't help but giggle. "You know us."

"Yeah, I know." Usa grinned. "I'm really tired, though. It's been a long day."

"No kidding. I've had you show up again. Those days are always long."

"Ha ha ha. I'm not a little kid you can pick on anymore, Usagi. I'm a lot taller than you now."

"Just how tall are you, anyways?"

"I dunno... last time we checked, I was still shorter than Jupiter. But only by like an inch or so."

"How on Earth do I have such a tall kid?"

Usa shrugged, sliding open the screen door and grinning at her mother of the past. "Blame Mamo-chan. Mama always blames Papa."

Usagi laughed and followed her future daughter inside the small temple, where the four girls inside had all finally fallen asleep.

* * *

End Chapter Four

Okay, I know this chapter was kind of like "OMG." I hope everyone's okay with the direction it's headed, cause I'm really enjoying this dark, tormented Demando. Even though he's evil (annnnd being really evil to Mamo-chan, whom we all love and adore), he's... well, he's kinda hot. Always thought he was lol! I love a calculated enemy who plans and knows how to manipulate things to fit his plans. Exactly what kind of genius I would hope Demando would be.

Oh, and a note about Chibiusa/Usa. Sometimes I call her Chibiusa, sometimes Usa, when she speaks. I mix this up a bit, but it's like, if she's JUST with someone who calls her Chibiusa, like Mamoru, she'll be noted as Chibiusa, and to others who she wants to call her Usa, she'll be called Usa. That's the plan, anyways!

Oh, would anybody be interested in being my beta reader? I need to find one! I miss stuff while editing and it drives me INSANE! ...I'm a grammar freak. lol.


	6. Chapter Five

Okay, I just finished chapter four and am starting on chapter five now. I just can't stop, the ideas are all swirling around up here in my head and I want to get them out. Lol. Despite the fact that I don't feel so great. Amazing how addicting a story can be, ne?

_Rabbits Through the Ages_  
Chapter Five

* * *

The sun was shining through the window, casting long beams of bright light across the room. Mamoru felt it hit his back and he winced, his eyes opening blearily. There was no pain. Had it all just been a nightmare? He had seen dark shadows rolling through his head all night, leering at him and creating strange, demented faces in his mind.

He pushed himself up and turned over. Raking a hand back through his black hair, he stared down at the patterns of light on the floor. He had simply passed out from exhaustion in his clothes the night before, right? That had been a nightmare, brought on by all the conflicts of the day. It could not have been real.

His eyes feeling heavy and bloodshot, he stood and made his way into the bathroom, throwing his clothes off and heading into the shower, hoping that the cold water would bring him back to his senses.

* * *

"Maybe Mamo-chan won't be too mad that I disappeared in the middle of the night," Usa commented to Usagi as the two rode up the elevator in Mamoru's apartment building. The pink-haired teenager rocked back and forth on her heels, watching as the numbers for the elevator rose one by one.

Usagi simply shrugged and leaned back against the wall of the elevator. It was past eleven in the morning, but still, she'd only had five or so hours of sleep, so she wasn't exactly feeling all that fantastic. Usa was cheery and bright, now that Usagi was on her side about her staying, but her cheerfulness didn't help Usagi's sleep deprivation. The blonde yawned. It was probably going to be a long day, what with so many things happening. Suddenly, she remembered something incredibly important she hadn't mentioned to Usa. "Oh, we're all going to an art exhibition tonight. I'm sure it would be okay if you came along."

"Art?" Usa raised a pink eyebrow. "Why?"

"It's Michiru-san's exhibition."

"Oh, that makes sense." Usa smiled. The elevator doors opened and the pink-haired girl bounded out of them, running down the hall to stand in front of Mamoru's apartment door. Usagi followed at a slower pace.

Usa pounded on the door. "Mamo-chaaaan! Ohayo!"

The door swung open to reveal a pale, drawn-faced Mamoru. He took a deep, shaking breath when he saw them standing there. His eyes looked especially pained when he looked at Usagi. She blanched. "Mamo-chan! What's wrong?"

He shuddered and backed away from the door, into the apartment. The two girls looked at each other warily, wondering what could be the matter. Usa pushed open the door and followed after Mamoru, with Usagi on her heels.

Mamoru stood with his hands on the counter at the kitchen bar that separated the living room from the kitchen. He stared at the two girls standing side by side. Usa shuffled on her feet, while Usagi took a step closer toward her fiancé. He flinched harshly and backed away. "Shit; it wasn't a dream."

"What wasn't a dream, Mamo-chan?" Usagi whispered, reaching her hand out toward him. He never cursed in any extent at all.

He backed away once again, nearing the refrigerator. "Usako, I... can't."

Usa, looking confused as she looked back and forth between the two, walked up and sat down on one of the kitchen barstools. She leaned her hands on her arms and stared at Mamoru. "What's wrong, Mamo-chan?"

"I wish I knew," he sighed, looking away from them both. He changed the subject abruptly. His voice took on a decided tone."I suppose I need to contact Pluto about you going home, Chibiusa."

"Usagi says I'm staying." Chibiusa said with narrowed, haughty eyes that glared at him.

Mamoru whipped his head back around to look at Usagi, and his chest constricted once against when he did. He grasped it painfully and winced, but he looked at her nonetheless. "She can't stay, Usako."

"She's staying," Usagi whispered. "She's fighting with me, Mamo-chan, and she's my daughter just as much as she's yours. I think she's right. If anybody should fight, it's her and me, and we've always fought together."

Usa looked uncomfortable as she watched the two look at each other silently, Usagi with wide, pleading, and terrified eyes and Mamoru with wide, tortured ones. She cleared her throat and grumbled "bathroom" before starting to make her way out of the room.

As she got farther away from him, Mamoru felt the pain intensify, and he suddenly doubled over, hissing in pain as he hit the floor. Usagi gasped out and tried to go to him, but he screamed at her. "Usako! _Stay back_!" She jumped at the harshness of his tone and took a step back, staring at him with an intensely hurt expression across her paling face.

Usa stood frozen, watching. She whipped her pink head back and forth between Usagi, who glanced back at her, and Mamoru, who sat on the ground heaving with breath and grasping his chest. She took a step closer to Usagi, walking around the counter near the blonde. "Usagi?" She took the girl's arm.

Mamoru glanced at Usa, frozen. "Chibiusa." The two girls, who had been looking at each other, looked at him. "Chibiusa, come here." He said again, and Usa looked at Usagi with a shrug before stepping toward Mamoru and kneeling beside him. He looked at her for a long moment. "How is it possible? It's better." He mumbled almost so low that she barely caught his words.

"What? What's better?" Chibiusa's eyes widened. Mamoru shook his head and refused to answer. He reached his hand out to her and she took it, helping him to stand up. He leaned against the refrigerator and closed his eyes, his breaths still labored. Usa started to go back to Usagi again, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. She looked at him in question, but he shook his head. "Don't move. It's the only way I can talk to her."

"Wha-?" Chibiusa blinked repeatedly. "What are you talking about, Mamo-chan?"

He took a deep breath and looked over at Usagi, who looked highly confused and scared. "I can't explain anything to either of you, but Usako, you have to stay far, far away from me right now."

"What?" Both of the girls jumped, staring at him as if he had lost his mind. He winced when Chibiusa took a step back.

"Chibiusa, come here!" He yelled, and the girl looked slightly worried as she took a step closer to him again. He relaxed when she did so. He looked at Usagi again, who was staring at him in worry and perplexity. "Go to the art exhibition like we planned, Usako, and tell everyone. But I can't... I can't go with you right now." Usagi's blue eyes widened with traces of tears, and he winced as he looked away. He looked at Usa instead. "Chibiusa... you have to stay. I think your parents will understand once we explain everything, but... I can't explain now. I know this isn't the best time for us not to speak with Pluto, but avoid her at all costs. We can't let those of the future know we're letting you stay, especially not when we promised to return you. But I need you around."

"You just said five minutes ago—" Usagi started.

"That was before I realized something," he muttered. "I don't get it, but it's helping."

Chibiusa's eyebrows were raised, and she watched as sweat seemed to be beading on Mamoru's forehead as he stared down at the tiled floor of the kitchen. She glanced back at Usagi, who raised her shoulders in bewilderment and stared at her fiancé.

Mamoru looked up again. "Chibiusa, I need you to take Usako to the senshi and have them protect her. They had planned on rotating who would stay with her, and that will have to do for now." He sighed heavily and closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the refrigerator. Chibiusa watched his face, which spasmed in pain and seemed to be trembling with effort as he spoke. "It's the only option I have right now. They have to be responsible for her safety."

"That is sort of their job, Mamo-chan," Chibiusa muttered, shuffling on her feet once again. He smirked half-heartedly with his eyes closed.

"I realize this, Chibiusa."

"Mamo-chan, what's going on?" Usagi whispered from her place far away from him at the front of the apartment. He winced and glanced over at her, his eyes full of pain as he looked at her.

"I wish I could tell you, Usako." He stared at her for a long moment, as if he was trying to take in her image forever. "I just... I can't right now." He looked at Chibiusa momentarily. "I'll be responsible for Chibiusa while she's here. You can stay here."

Chibiusa glanced at Usagi before looking back at Mamoru with her pink eyebrows furrowed together. "Sure, I guess."

Usagi blinked repeatedly and looked back forth between the two. "What is going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Chibiusa muttered, trying to step away from Mamoru but being reprimanded with a sharp glance when she tried. "He's acting like Papa was last night." She sniffed. "Since when are you so bossy?"

"Since I have no other option, Chiba Usagi Serenity," he hissed, glaring at her. She did take a step back then, paling.

Usagi raised an eyebrow. Chibiusa looked back at her with a bewildered expression, but the blonde only shook her head in astonishment as well.

"Right, I'm... going to go with Usagi, then." Chibiusa said slowly, backing away from Mamoru. The man clenched his fists together and his eyes squeezed shut as she did so. He suddenly launched away from the refrigerator and disappeared out of the room, heading into his bedroom. The two girls stared after him for a long moment.

Then Chibiusa turned and grabbed Usagi's arm, dragging her out of the apartment. "Chibiusa! Chibiusa, stop! Mamo-chan's in pain; something is definitely wrong! Don't tell me you can't tell it!" Usagi wrenched her arm away from the girl and stared at her harshly. They stood in front of the elevators.

"Of course I can tell it!" Usa snapped. "And it's Usa!" She sighed and pressed the down button on the elevator. "He just yelled at me, using my full name*!" She grumbled to herself as she pushed Usagi into the elevator, stepping in behind her. "He apparently took the cue from Papa. Knew exactly how to piss me off."

"Chibiusa!"

"_USA!_" The girl yelled, before sighing and leaning against the wall. "I'm sorry, Usagi."

The blonde stared across at the younger pink-haired girl for a long moment with a grim frown. "He told me to stay away from him, Usa."

"I don't get it, either," Usa grumbled. "But I'm doing as he said. We have to tell the senshi that something's wrong, even if he obviously can't tell us what." The elevator doors opened, and the two strode out together, Usagi glancing back as they went. Usa noticed and wrapped an arm through Usagi's, pulling her forward. "I'm sure whatever it is, it's not your fault, Usagi."

Usagi nodded woodenly and allowed Usa to lead her away from the Azubu apartment complex. She glanced up at the building as they went, her eyes searching out Mamoru's balcony, hoping for some small sight of him. He wasn't there, and she felt tears brim in her eyes as they hurried away.

* * *

Mamoru stared at the blank television screen. Finally, Usagi seemed far enough away that the pain was gone. He sighed heavily and continued to stare at his reflection in the screen. So it hadn't been a dream. Demando had really placed a stone containing his vile, contaminated blood within his body, and the stone was repelling Usagi, causing him to have heart-wrenching pain whenever the love of his life was nearby.

But that didn't explain at all why Chibiusa repelled it.

"She numbed it," he muttered. He remembered Demando saying Chibiusa seemed immune to him, but hadn't he also said Usagi was as well? That their lights repelled him? "Then why does Chibiusa numb the pain?" He wondered, leaning his head against the headrest and closing his eyes. But it had been his chance to speak in any way at all to Usagi. Without the pink-haired girl there, how much worse would the pain have been? It had been excruciating enough when the girl had stepped away from him.

He winced and tried to pull his mind away from it. How in the hell was he going to defeat the stone inside him? What did he do about Demando trying to go after both his future wife and daughter while stealing his life at the same time, keeping him from the person he loved above all else?

"Shit," he muttered, banging his head on the couch. He sighed. He usually wasn't one for cursing.

* * *

"That's crazy," Makoto said while listening to Usa rant, stirring the cookie dough round and round in the bowl furiously. Usa nodded and threw in a few chocolate chips while she munched on a few more.

"Mamo-chan doesn't ever yell," Usagi said gloomily from her place on Makoto's couch, where she sat cradling Runt in her lap, playing with her ears. The dog was munching happily on a bone Makoto had bought her. Usagi, however, looked positively miserable as she sat there.

"Or curse," Usa pointed out. She ate a few more chocolate chips, which caused Makoto to glare at her and pull the bag away from her.

"Chibiusa-chan, we need some for the cookies!" the brunette said crossly, but the frown that passed over Usa's face was even worse.

"All of you won't stop calling me Chibiusa!"

"It's just what we know you by," Ami noted from her perch at the counter where she mused over a textbook open in front of her.

"How did your exam go, Ami-chan?" Makoto asked, beginning to flatten out the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet.

The blue-haired genius sighed dramatically. "I'm sure I missed two questions."

"Oh wow. The world's just going to end," Usa said sarcastically. Makoto snorted with laughter and nudged Usa with her elbow when Ami shot them both contemptuous looks. Usagi only sighed sadly.

"Seriously, stop worrying, Usagi-chan," Ami turned around on her barstool and looked at the blonde with a smile. "I'm sure Mamoru-san has a very good explanation. You both said he was acting very strangely."

"And seemed in pain," Usa noted, chewing on her thumbnail in absence of the chocolate chips. "There's got to be some explanation."

"It's also weird that he wouldn't tell you anything," Makoto said while sliding a tray of cookies in the oven. "He tells you everything, Usagi-chan."

"True," the blonde muttered. "He even told me that about one time he was caught as a young teenager at the orphanage... well, _you know._" She made a suggestive motion with her eyebrows. "That could not have been easy to admit."

"We didn't need to know that," Ami scrunched her nose and tried to bury her nose in her text book. Her face was a stained pink.

"Especially not me," Usa said with her nose scrunched as well. "You know I do have to go back to his apartment tonight!"

"Gomen ne," Usagi giggled.

"Ugh, and they keep reminding me," Usa's voice took on a slightly higher tone to mimic Usagi's, "'You know, we are your parents'," She snorted. "Then she goes and tells me _that_! That's my future _father_, Usagi!"

Makoto nodded sadly, making 'tsk tsk' noises. "And you're at the age to be severely embarrassed by your parents."

"No kidding," the girl snorted again and handed Makoto another completed tray of perfectly shaped cookie dough.

Makoto turned to her and put both her hands over the girl's ears, causing her to squeal. She turned to Usagi and winked. "We have to be more careful, Usagi-chan! We have an innocent little girl from the future with us!"

"Mako-chan!" Usa wailed, giggling as she did.

Usagi smiled slightly before sighing and leaning sideways into the couch. "I really wish I knew what was wrong with him."

The others were quiet as Makoto and Usa turned to watch the cookies and Ami tried to concentrate on her book. Usagi scratched Runt's ears and sighed unhappily.

"What time do we need to be at the gallery?" Makoto asked as she wiped the counter free of bits of cookie dough.

"Haruka-san said five," Ami noted, looking up. "We have two hours."

"I take it Mamoru-san won't be going with us now?"

Usagi shook her head. "No."

Makoto smiled sadly. "You'll be safe with us, Usagi-chan."

"Oh, I know," Usagi sighed. "It's just... well, you know, Mako-chan." She shrugged.

"Mmhmm," Makoto nodded. Usa and Ami looked at them with confused expressions.

"What?" Usa swiveled around to look at Usagi. "What am I missing?"

"You'll find out," the blonde muttered just as the doorbell began dinging over and over as someone pressed the button as fast as they could.

"And that," Makoto said with a grin as she wiped her hands on her cooking apron, "will be Minako-chan."

"Konnichiwa, minna!" rang out Minako's cheery voice as she breezed into the room ahead of Makoto, who had just let her inside.

"You act like you actually got adequate sleep last night," Usagi smirked.

"Oh, it's a lovely day!" Minako clasped her hands together in front of her. "I got a date with that guy again! He's totally fine with my emergency!"

Makoto put her hands on her hips. "And what about the last delivery? I entrusted you to making sure Toro was well informed. You know I was tired."

Minako waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, no worries. Toro was on his way to the Chisaki wedding with the cake, and all was well. You took care of the Rika wedding, right?"

"Yes, earlier today."

"Then we're good!" Minako chirped and took a seat beside Ami at the counter. "Yo, Usa-chan!"

"Yo, Minako-chan," Usa grinned and leaned across the counter. "You're my favorite, you know that?"

"I know, right?" Minako grinned. "But why am I your favorite today?"

"You're the only one who listens and calls me Usa!"

Minako blinked. "Well, I figure, you're not exactly 'chibi' anymore. You're bigger than me."

Usa smirked and rolled her eyes while Usagi couldn't help but let out a small laugh and Makoto snorted. "Thanks, Minako-chan."

Minako grinned sheepishly, fluffing her blonde hair behind her as she pulled out a makeup compact. "Rei called, too. She'll be here soon. Last minute chores for her grandfather. Apparently Yuichiro-san has taken off to ski with his parents for the weekend and the sweeping wasn't done."

"The guy never changes," Makoto shook her head.

"Did he ever make a move for Rei-chan?" Usa asked, peeking in the oven at the cookies.

"You'd know better than us," Minako chirped. "You know the fuuuuture," the blonde made spacey moves with her hands, causing Usa to roll her red eyes again. "But no, he's still pining away for his Rei-san just as much as ever."

"And she hasn't got a clue, as usual," Makoto grinned.

"Seriously, you can't tell us one little thing about our futures?" Minako clasped her hands and looked at Usa with starry eyes. "Mamoru-san and Usagi-chan know loads of stuff! I just want to know one tiny little thing!"

"I can't tell you, Minako-chan," Usa grinned. "I can only talk about things you all already know. Otherwise, I'd have Pluto harping on me within seconds. For one thing, I really don't want Chronos to punish her. For another, Mamo-chan said to keep Pluto away right now."

"Why?" Minako raised her eyebrows.

Makoto cleared her throat. "We'll wait till Rei-chan gets here to tell you both; that way we don't have to explain a million times."

Usagi sighed and closed her eyes as she rested on the couch. She wanted Mamoru with her, not far across town telling her to stay away. What was wrong with her fiancé?

* * *

Several hours later, the girls, now joined by Rei, were all dressed in dresses, and they walked down the Azubu sidewalk toward the shopping district, where the art gallery was that Michiru was being featured in.

"Mako-chan's dress looks great on you, Usa-chan," Minako was saying to the pink-haired teenager, who grinned and picked at her white, hip-length halter dress.

"Arigatou, Minako-chan," she beamed. "I'm closest to Mako-chan in height!"

"We are close to the same size," Makoto said from Usa's other side. She leaned forward. "Though you seem to have your mother's bust line."

"Hey!" Usagi bustled from behind them in a strapless pink party dress. "Watch it, Mako-chan."

The brunette grinned. Usagi sighed and walked on silently. From beside her, Rei wrapped an arm around her waist. "It's okay, Usagi-chan. We're here with you, and we'll get you through tonight."

Usagi nodded sullenly. "I know, minna. I just really wanted Mamo-chan here."

"It's just an art show," Ami noted with a puzzle in her voice.

"Mmm," Usagi made a noise, and Makoto looked back at her with sympathy.

They reached the gallery and noticed through the floor-to-ceiling windows that the large gallery was quickly filling up. They presented their invitations to the man at the front and entered. Usa presented Mamoru's invitation and followed the other girls inside.

"Neko-chan! Minna!"

Usagi looked up and saw Haruka waving to her with a wide grin on her face. Usagi waved back with a slight smile just as Usa joined her, standing close beside her. Haruka's face turned into a frown and she strode across the room, clad in her favorite white tuxedo.

"Neko-chan, what is she doing here?" The tall woman hissed, inclining her head to Usa. "You know we'll have to tell Pluto."

"No, you don't, Haruka-san," Usagi sighed and wrapped her arm through Usa's. "She's my daughter, so don't_ I_ really have dominion over her when she's in this time period?"

Haruka raised her eyebrows. "Neko-chan, what's going on? I thought you and Mamoru-san had spoken to the king and queen..."

"Plans have changed, Haruka-san," Usagi mumbled. "We should talk."

Haruka frowned, but she nodded. "Alright. I hope you don't mind that it will be a few hours before Michiru and I can break away."

"It's fine," Usagi smiled. "We're here to support Michiru-san, of course."

Haruka nodded and looked at Usa. "It's not that I'm not glad to see you, Usa-chan."

Usa nodded once. "Of course, Haruka-san. I know your duty."

The tall blonde glanced at the girl that was much nearer to her height that the shorter blonde. "Yes. You've certainly grown."

"So I'm told," Usa smirked.

Haruka squeezed Usagi's arm once before making her way toward a few others entering the gallery. Usagi sighed a breath of relief and patted Usa's arm. "That was the hard part, Usa. She won't go to Pluto, not when I refuse to let her."

Usa was watching the blonde. "I guess since you beat them that time, Michiru-san and Haruka-san respect you more?"

"Yes," Usagi noted, and she waved to Michiru, who was smiling over at her. "But mostly it's that they're actually finally part of us."

"I wasn't exactly sure when that happened," Usa said. "Didn't know if it was part of this time that I could talk about."

"They go about their missions in different ways than we do, as they always have, but they're closer to us than before. Since the appearance of Galaxia."

"Right when I went home," Usa mumbled.

"Yeah," Usagi nodded. She glanced at Usa out of the corner of her eye. "What about the Starlights? Do we ever see them again?"

"You know I'm not allowed to say anything, Usagi," Usa glanced back at her. Usagi noticed a grin on her face and a slight glimmer in her eye. The blonde grinned and leaned over, finding it strangely comforting that she could lean on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Arigatou, Usa," she sighed.

The girl nodded. She noticed that several tables, couches, and chairs were set up around the room. Ami and Rei had taken post on one of the couches, while Makoto and Minako were standing nearby, talking to a glowing Michiru. She pulled Usagi toward Rei and Ami, plopping down on the couch beside the raven-haired girl.

Rei grinned at the two. "Minako-chan's insisting that she was the inspiration for Michiru's goddess piece."

Usa leaned forward. "Puh-lease, everyone knows that's Mama." She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.

Usagi blinked and leaned forward. "Wha?"

Rei nodded her head toward a large painting across the room. Usagi glanced at it and blinked once again. In the background, a towering crystal rose high into the milky, night blue sky, but the main feature was the woman in the front of the painting, who stood with her hands clasped in a prayer fashion, her soft eyes closed. A single diamond floated on a silk strand around her neck, while a shimmering, silk white dress hung softly around her bare shoulders. The entire image reflected in a pool of water at the bottom of the painting, with the woman's bare toes touching the water and sending a rippling effect throughout the image.

"It becomes rather famous," Usa noted to Usagi in a soft voice. "Don't tell Michiru-san, but it becomes her most famous piece."

"That can't be me," Usagi sat through a dropped jaw.

Michiru was suddenly standing beside her with her hands softly folded in front of her lap. The aquamarine haired woman stared across at the piece that was gaining so much attention from many viewers who were stopping to stare up at it. "It's you, Usagi-chan." She said in her soft, silk voice. She glanced down at Usagi with her aqua eyes glimmering. "It's simply your radiance."

Usagi glanced back at the image. Even though there was no hint of the odango hairstyle present around the woman, the long, golden hair she had was very similar to her own, as it trailed and dipped into the water below her. She glanced at Michiru and got up from the couch to go closer to the painting. Her throat closed up. As she got closer, she saw that the woman's face was her own.

Michiru had walked up and was standing beside her. "Do you like it?"

"It's amazing," Usagi breathed. "But why?"

Michiru tilted her head to the side. Haruka was suddenly standing beside her, and she grinned at Usagi, who couldn't help but smile back. Michiru let out a smiling sigh. "I believe I speak for us all when I say that when we think of you, Usagi, we think of light and the promise of the future. This simply came to me as what that meant," She waved a hand toward the painting. "It's for you and Mamoru." She glanced at her. "It's not for sale. It's your wedding present."

"My—my wedding present?" Usagi's jaw dropped. "You know?"

"Of course," Haruka smirked. "We have an uncanny ability for sensing these things, Neko-chan."

"And Mamoru-san actually knew about the painting," Michiru elbowed Haruka in the ribs, rolling her aqua eyes. Haruka snorted out a laugh, her blue eyes twinkling. "He told us when I showed him the painting. I decided then that I could never sell it, not when it should be in your possession."

Usagi's jaw dropped again. "Mamo-chan knew about the painting?"

"I asked him to stop by our apartment," Michiru laughed lightly, her voice sounding like tinkling bells. "My ego would not have been able to take it had you not liked the painting, so I planned to ask his opinion before showing you. Why do you think he wanted you to wait to tell everyone until tonight?" Michiru gave her a sympathetic smile. "Mako-chan told us why he's not here, Usagi-chan. But he's one for giving you everything; you know that."

Tears brimmed in the blonde's eyes. "I miss him."

"We'll figure out what's going on," Haruka said firmly. "Don't worry, Neko-chan."

Usa was suddenly on Usagi's other side with her hand on her white sheathed hip. "So the picture was a _wedding present_? Mama and Papa never told me that!"

Haruka let out another laugh. "I take it your picture makes it into the Crystal Palace, Michiru."

The aquamarine woman was beaming. "It seems it does." Usa flushed, obviously having disclosed too much.

Usagi smiled around her at them and loped her arm around Michiru's waist. "Arigatou, Michiru-san. It's so beautiful." The woman continued to beam, and suddenly all of the senshi were surrounding the group.

"Usagi, you're engaged? And you haven't told us? Usagi no baka!"

"Haha, I knew while you guys didn't! Figured it out myself, yes I did!"

"Oh, Usagi-chan, I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!"

"Woo woo! You go, girl! I guess I don't have to kick Mamoru-san's ass for getting some now, do I?"

"_MINAKO!_" The others turned and yelled at her.

Usa slapped a hand to her forehead. "You're all trying to scar me for life."

* * *

Haruka swirled her coffee around with a spoon, leaning her elbow on the table. Michiru sat beside her, hands in her lap. Around the rest of the circular booth, the other senshi sat. Ami was beside Michiru, with Rei, Makoto, and Minako rounding out the rest of the booth. Usagi and Usa sat in two chairs the group had pulled up to the table. The darkened coffee shop was the perfect evening spot for the senshi to discuss recent events.

"So Mamoru-san is the one who's ordered that Chibiusa stays." Michiru put a hand to her cheek.

"Usa," the pink-haired teenager sighed.

"Gomen nasai, Usa-chan," Michiru smiled, and Usa blushed.

Usagi shook her head. "I decided first that Usa was to stay, but then this afternoon Mamo-chan acted very strangely. At first he wanted to send her home."

"He said last night that I would be going home today," Usa interrupted. "Then he seemed to be in pain this morning, but when I got near to him, he said, 'it's better'."

"'It's better', huh?" Haruka muttered. "Whatever pain he's in, you seemed to help it?"

"He did get awfully mad when I backed away." Usa scratched her cheek. "He yelled at me."

Usagi sighed. She raised her hand half-heartedly, and the entire group noticed that her engagement ring was glimmering on her finger. "It also seems that I'm what's causing the pain. He kept telling me to stay back."

"Usagi causing pain, while Usa helps it," Michiru murmured. "Very strange."

"This has to have something to do with Demando," Haruka decided.

"But what has he done?" Makoto raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her tea.

Ami put her head in her hands. "I could try and scan Mamoru-san with the computer?"

"If Demando is capable of hiding himself from Pluto's 30th century, advanced center of time, I'm sure he'd be able to hide whatever he's done to Mamoru-san," Haruka took a sip of coffee. "We have to stop Demando."

"We need to find him," Michiru said firmly.

Haruka nodded at her partner. "We'll leave tomorrow. We would have left sooner, except we had the exhibition."

"Where are you going?" Minako asked, rubbing her arm for chills.

"We don't exactly know yet," Michiru said, frowning. "But we have been discussing it, and we suspect that he will have remained in Japan."

"Closer to Usagi-chan, since she is obviously his intention," Haruka said. "Surely he wouldn't waste his time venturing far away. It would be more difficult for him to attack."

"Are you really going to do this alone?" Rei asked.

The two older women smiled at each other. "It's how we've always been," Michiru said softly.

"We appreciate the sentiment," Haruka turned to the other senshi with a smile. "But you all have your mission, and we have ours." The ash-blonde looked at Usagi. "I will not inform Pluto of Usa-chan being in this century, although, by this time, I'm sure they know. But, as you and Mamoru-san have both ordered that she stay, I'm sure they must realize you have a reason."

Usagi nodded. "Thank you."

"Keep Usag-chan, Usa-chan, and the city safe while we're gone," Michiru said to the four inner senshi. "We'll be back to help as soon as we find Demando's hiding place. Until that time, we also ask that you please remain aware of Hotaru-chan's status, in case she begins to age."

"Watch the prince for this strange... whatever it is," Haruka frowned. "If anything very strange happens, we will have our communicators with us. For emergencies only." She grinned. "We'll also have our cell phones, but you know how unreliable those things are."

The group nodded, a few of them grinning ever so slightly while the others simply grimaced. Haruka and Michiru slid out of the booth and faced the younger girls still sitting. They both smiled, and Haruka squeezed Usagi's shoulder. "Take care, all of you," she said. Then, the couple turned and left the coffee shop. The other girls remained sitting, drinking their coffee and tea, for a long while, and not much chatter went on between them. It had been a long day for them all.

Ami stretched. "At least Demando did not send out another droid today."

"After last night, I'd be too tired to fight another one," Minako yawned.

"I suggest we all get some rest, then," Rei stood up. "Where's Usagi-chan staying tonight?"

"Home," Usagi sighed. "Any of you are welcome to come home with me, but I want to see my mom and dad. Heck, I'd even like to see Shingo."

Makoto chuckled. "Tomorrow is Sunday. The bakery is closed. I can come home with you, Usagi-chan. That okay with everyone?"

The others nodded. "Ami and I will walk Usa-chan to Mamoru-san's apartment," Minako said. "It's on the way to both of our houses."

Usagi and Usa glanced at each other. "Still protected like crazy." Usa noted sourly.

Usagi shrugged. "They do it cause it's their job."

"Uh, hello, and because we love you?" Minako waved an airy hand, rolling her eyes. "Duh."

Usagi shook her head and grinned. "Of course." She stood along with the others. Reaching over, she gave Usa a squeezing hug. "Please make sure Mamo-chan is okay, Usa."

The pink haired teenager nodded. "I will."

The group parted ways, with Rei heading toward the temple, Makoto and Usagi going toward Usagi's house, and the rest of the girls going toward the Azubu area.

* * *

Minako walked with her arms tied behind her back. Ami and Usa watched as she turned to walk backwards. "You and Usagi-chan seem to get along a lot better these days, Usa-chan," the blonde noted in her cheery way.

Usa frowned. "She reminds me so much of Mama that it scares me sometimes."

"Really?" Ami blinked and glanced at the younger girl. "She seems the same to me."

The frown didn't leave Usa's face. "Maybe you guys don't notice cause you see her everyday, but believe me, I can tell. She's my mom, for one, and plus I haven't seen her in three years. It's pretty obvious to me. No wonder Demando wouldn't bother going after my mother anymore. Not when Usagi is practically the exact same now, anyways. And much younger. You can barely tell, but Mama has a few lines these days. Why go after her again when a wrinkle free queen is about to exist?"

"Yes, but why go after you, too?" Minako mused, turning to walk beside Usa.

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "I know that just as well as I know why I seem to numb whatever pain Mamo-chan's in. No idea."

"I've been thinking about that," Ami put a hand to her lips. "It's possibly because your powers are so unique. Perhaps you inherited some of the healing powers of both Moon and Earth, and those blended together in a way to protect you or those especially close to you, physically or emotionally."

Usa blinked. "I'm not sure. I've never had healing powers, I don't think."

"Have you ever tried?" Ami asked. "Your mother and father both have them."

The girl stopped walking. "Really?"

"Of course," Ami nodded. "Usagi-chan's healed many youma and changed them back into humans."

"And how do you think you stayed alive while Mistress Nine had your pure heart?" Minako asked rhetorically. "Mamoru-san's life energy kept you alive." The girl snapped her fingers. "Perhaps because you're part of him, your life energy helps to heal him as well."

"It makes sense, Minako-chan," Ami said approvingly. The blue-haired girl noticed that the darkness was becoming deeper, and she shivered. "Come on, let's get her to Mamoru-san's apartment. We can talk about this later. I don't like this darkness."

Usa shivered, remembering what Mamoru had said the night before.

"_This darkness is really hurting."_

She ran between the two senshi, feeling that, although not physically hurting her, the darkness was stealing inside her and spreading through. It was a hollowing feeling, one that she certainly didn't enjoy. She hoped this feeling had nothing to do with the fact that she was part Earth. If so, she knew exactly what Mamoru had meant the night before when he said the darkness hurt.

* * *

End Chapter Five

*As a note, one thing I've always wondered about is Chibiusa's surname. I've read lots of comments and different opinions on this, and I think it's open to your own opinion and interpretation. Many think she took on the "Tsukino" last name simply because she integrated herself into the Tsukino family and because, in the future, she wouldn't have really had a surname. She was simply Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity, just as King Endymion and Neo Queen Serenity sort of abandoned their surnames as well. Still, in my own opinion, I think she would have had her father's surname. Usagi would have picked up "Chiba" as her surname once she married Mamoru, yes? It's society's norm, in any case. So I chose to show that.

And I hope Usa's not too annoying. I'm trying to write her in my own way, to show how perhaps she would still be very stubborn and quite arrogant, yet not quite so bratty as she ages. Plus, come on, the Usagi/Chibiusa fights have to stop. I'm sorry, but they got on my nerves sooooo badly. So I'm writing Chibiusa growing up in my way! While hoping she still remains in character.

Another note for any Haruka/Michiru fans out there: the next chapter will involve them quite a bit :) I love them. Lol.


	7. Chapter Six

So I've noticed something. In 2-3 stories of mine, I've either tried to kill Mamoru, had him terribly injured, and now inflicted him with a death eating stone. And he's my favorite!

Wow, poor guy. Can we imagine what I'd do to him if I didn't like him? Lol.

**And I have a beta reader now! Yay! The awesome **Secluded Sapphire** helped me edit this! She's so nice and amazingly helpful! I'm probably going to thank her like ten million times... thank you! :D

Anywayyys, here's the next chapter!

_Rabbits Through the Ages_  
Chapter Six

* * *

The sun was setting once again, and it was casting long shadows across the Azubu Apartments, dipping low behind the tall trees and hiding. Two men, invisible to the naked eye, stood on the railing of the apartment belonging to Chiba Mamoru, both pairs of their incredibly light eyes staring inside at the man sleeping on the sofa inside.

"How are your plans proceeding, Demando?" asked the dark haired man. He hissed when a beam of sunlight hit his face, and he turned up the collar of his dark cape to hide himself from it. "When will that damn sun set?"

"In a few minutes more," murmured Demando. "It is almost gone." He looked at his companion, who was slightly taller and broader than himself with ebony hair that was slicked back from his face, even lighter skin than his own, and bright, pale eyes. "I realize you are not accustomed to the Japanese summers. The sun does not set until very late. I am sorry for it." He glanced inside to the sleeping man again. "He seems to be fighting the stone."

"You are not using its capabilities, Demando," the taller man murmured, and he leaped down lightly from the railing to stand in the stone enclosure of the balcony. "When I made that stone for you, I expected you to test its capabilities to the fullest." His eyes flashed upwards to the light haired man. "Shall we test it now?"

"Of course," Demando's face contorted into a very pleased sneer, and he floated down to join the other man. He stretched his arm out and flicked his wrist. From inside the apartment, Mamoru's face contracted with intense pain and even in sleep, his hands reached for his chest, pulling at the fabric of his shirt. Demando watched for a long, drawn out moment before pulling his wrist away. The man inside dropped his arms limply, yet his face continued to twitch slightly.

"Very good results," the taller man noted with satisfaction in his deep voice. "It is controlling him completely."

"Yes, Dracul. Just as we planned," Demando noted.

A single black eyebrow raised on the other man. "And the darkness?"

"Moving steadily." Demando glanced away to where the sun was now hidden beneath the horizon. Darkness was rising in a deep wave across the city. "Our powers grow with every passing night. Soon, the senshi will be unable to ignore the night creatures."

Dracul glanced in the same direction as his companion. "Soon we will be able to act." The light eyes flashed to Demando. "You must accomplish your part within the next few days."

Demando nodded his head once, curtly. "I will be prepared. I will need great powers to take them on, Count."

"Our force will be large enough by then. I have made sure of my part," the ebony-haired man replied assuredly. He glanced once more to the man inside. "Are you sure you will be powerful enough to do this, Demando? You are still very young."

Demando's light eyes flickered to the sleeping Mamoru. "I will be strong enough."

"You are asking so much of yourself," Dracul murmured. "His offspring will not be an easy capture, especially as she is part of that detestable woman."

Demando turned to Dracul with a harsh, determined stare. "I will have them both."

Dracul let out a patient sigh, flexing his long, thin fingers as the comforting darkness fell upon them. "Bringing one of the light into our realm is unheard of. I cannot believe I am allowing you to do this, no matter how brilliant you have already proven. This task is near impossible."

"You are the first of our kind to have ever married a human," Demando spat out harshly. "You should not judge me for wanting to achieve the impossible."

"Le Fay was a mistake," Dracul's white eyes flared, his outstretched fingers closing into a fist. "Her humanity brought the King of Earth straight to Transylvania and destroyed my home! I was very lucky to have escaped, or our race would not have survived! He used my own daughter to have our race practically exterminated!"

"But you loved Le Fay, didn't you?" Demando accused.

Dracul winced and looked away into the spreading darkness. "It was my mistake, but you should not make this mistake. It could have dire consequences for you. You are my prized creation, and it took much of my energy to bring your powers into our family. I would hate to lose you."

"Serenity is worth it," Demando murmured. "As I'm sure you thought Le Fay was worth it." Dracul winced again but did not reply. Demando walked toward the glass door of the balcony and peered inside. "Endymion and his offspring stand in my way, but the offspring's powers are too vast to cast her aside as I will her father."

"You are tampering with very dangerous lines of time, Demando," Dracul said sourly. "One wrong move and you could lose that power, and if you are to succeed, you need it."

"I must achieve my plan before his death," Demando murmured. "But it must be close, or she will not be weak enough."

"It is precariously risky, and you are not even sure if it will be enough to save her when he does die."

"Giving her immortality should stave the effects of her father's death. She will still exist," he murmured once again. "I am fairly certain of it, Dracul. I have much experience in the voids of time; trust me. I have been the Rabbit's master before, and I shall be so again. And this time, I will have her mother." He stepped away from the glass and peered down into the street. Below, he noticed three girls walking toward the building. "It's Mercury and Venus with the Rabbit."

Dracul peered down at the group. "Venus is quite lovely. She looks very much like your Serenity." He looked at his comrade. "And she is not of the Moon. She would be a much easier conquest."

"She's yours if you want her," Demando scoffed. "I have told you; it is Serenity I love."

"You are mad, and yet I still do not stop you," Dracul sighed and looked down once again at the group of three as they entered the building. "We should leave. We have much to do, and I really would prefer not to be near when the Moon child becomes close. It is an uncomfortable feeling being near one of the light."

"She is not a full Moon child," Demando drawled lazily. "It is a very numbing sensation. She's very unique, the Rabbit."

"Numbing, you say?" Dracul muttered. "In any case, we have much to do." The darker haired man leaped up onto the railing and jumped down from it, disappearing into the night. Demando watched as he did so, but his eyes soon turned to peer inside the room as suddenly the Rabbit appeared. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the tall, willowy girl shaking her past father awake. He knew he had many pressing matters, but he couldn't tear himself away from the scene.

* * *

It was so dark. As the deep blackness pressed down on him, he felt himself trying to push through it to escape. But it seemed that no matter what way he turned, it was impossible to move. It kept choking him instead. Thin, bone-like fingers were wrapping around his neck, choking him, squeezing out whatever breath he had left. A face appeared in front of him, but it wasn't really a face. It was a hollow image of what a human should be; with alabaster skin hanging loosely around a skull. No eyes stared back at him; he stared deep in the darkness of the missing eyes, feeling another bone crushing hand reaching for his neck as breath left, and his eyes slipped away. He felt that he was going to join the darkness of the creatures surrounding him. The pain would leave if he just joined them...

"_Mamo-chan_!"

He opened his eyes in a start, feeling someone shaking him. It had been a nightmare again. Just another nightmare. His head was reclined back on the sofa, and his neck ached when he turned his head and looked to see a pink-haired teenager with wide, ruby red eyes staring down at him in worry. He tried to smile. "Chibiusa," he whispered, terrified to find that the name came out as a whimper.

"What's going on with you?" The girl asked worriedly, her hand squeezing his. "You left the door unlocked; did you even lock it when Usagi and I left this morning? It's near nine at night now!"

"I..." He frowned. "No, I don't suppose I did. I've been asleep."

"_All day?_" She blinked.

He sighed and sat up, forcing Chibiusa to scoot away from him to give him room. He leaned over and put his head in his hands. "I guess so." He opened his eyes. "At least I didn't have work."

"Uh, yeah, at _least_," Chibiusa said sarcastically. "You missed the art exhibition, and it seemed like it was big deal to both you and Usagi, considering the _wedding present_ and all."

"Please stop snapping, Chibiusa," he sighed. His head throbbed.

The girl jumped up and glared down at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Mamo-chan, start talking, damn it! Something is way wrong here! From what Haruka-san and Michiru-san said, you had really wanted to be with Usagi when she saw that painting tonight! So what in the hell would make you miss it?"

"Chibiusa, would you please watch your tongue?" Mamoru glanced up at her tiredly. The red eyed girl pursed her lips together but continued to glare back at him. He sighed and tore his eyes away from her. "I did want to be there, but I... couldn't."

"Being near Usagi is causing you pain." Chibiusa nodded. "We've figured that out." Mamoru looked up at the girl and his eyes widened. He said nothing, but she saw the look in his eyes. She sat next to him again. "I'm somehow numbing that pain, though, right? We've been trying to figure that out, too. We think it's probably because my life energy is connected to yours, or, whatever the hell Minako-chan said earlier."

"Chibiusa," Mamoru reprimanded.

"Right, the cursing, sorry." She paused. "But you have to tell us what exactly is wrong, or we can't help, Mamo-chan."

He leaned back into the couch again and rubbed his aching temple. He'd had the headache ever since Demando had stuck that hideous stone in his chest. It seemed to be easing at the moment, but who knew how long that would last. Chibiusa was watching him warily. He didn't say anything. She sighed and turned to face the television with him. She reached on the coffee table and grabbed the remote, turning it on and flipping through the channels. "It's been forever since I've watched television." She remarked absently.

He glanced down at the girl sitting beside him. "You don't have television? That seems rather odd."

"Oh, we have it," she said, wrinkling her nose. "It's a bit different now. I don't really enjoy it. I prefer it this way."

"How's it different?" he said lightly, trying to attempt to keep her thoughts away from their previous discussion.

She pursed her lips together as she flipped through the many channels, ending on a channel where a singing competition show was playing. "I've already said way too much about my home today. I'm going to get myself in some serious trouble if I don't shut up."

"You never used to talk about the future much."

"I didn't know much then. I was only a kid, Mamo-chan."

"You're still a kid," he teased.

She rolled her red eyes and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Thanks a lot."

"I hate to tell you this, but I think I'm always going to see the little girl that I used to make pancakes for and give piggy back rides," he paused. "...while Usako glowered."

"That was way too much fun," Chibiusa giggled. "Man, pissing Usagi off used to be so easy!"

"You were very talented at it," Mamoru said wryly.

"It's okay, though, I guess... if you still think I'm a kid," she said, and she paused. "But only you can, okay?"

"Why are you so intent on being an adult so fast?" he laughed and shook his head. He found himself surprised that the movement didn't cause him intense pain.

She sighed. "Look, if Usagi and the others still look at me like I'm the little 'chibi' girl who threw pink sugar hearts as a defense, they'll never take me seriously as an equal, as a senshi." She frowned. "Even Mama gives me this... look sometimes. She doesn't like that I'm a leader of my own senshi now, and she doesn't think I know, but I do."

"Have you talked to your mother about this? I'm sure she doesn't think that," Mamoru frowned. "You should talk to her about it, not just sit and worry about it."

She shrugged, and her voice lowered into a mumble. "Papa said the same thing." She glanced at him. "He listens to me, but he doesn't ever get involved." She paused. "Papa's not directly involved in any stuff involving the senshi. He's always preferred to stay back from it," she started to explain, but then she rolled her eyes. "Wait, I have to remember who I'm talking to." Mamoru chuckled, and she shook her head, smiling. "You guys _look_ more like them now, but still, it's different with you and Usagi."

"Of course." he nodded. "It has to be weird."

"Definitely," she agreed. "Anyways, Papa listens to me, and he knows I hate the way a lot of things are done with the senshi. Like the older senshi still having supreme command when they should really retire like Mama. They're thousands of years old now! I can understand them being in supreme command of delegation issues, because they are our elders and they have experience, but if anything involving any direct action occurs, like with this Demando thing, it should be my senshi in charge while Mama's senshi remain behind. They don't get that I'm trying to ease their load!" She sighed. "Papa agrees that, logically, I have a point, but I know he doesn't really want me to be in command just yet, either. Plus I think he sides with Mama about how the older senshi are still more powerful. I agree that Uranus and Neptune are, but come on, those two are probably going to fight till they can't hold up anything but a cane anymore," she snorted, and Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "Especially Uranus. She likes nothing better than to slash something with that sword of hers. Mama's had to have the curtains in the ballroom replaced twice because of her showing off." She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, my _God_! I shouldn't have said all that!" She groaned and smacked her face with her hand repeatedly. "Man, Pluto is seriously going to _kill_ me when I get home. I'm doomed!"

He sighed and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders, pulling her hand away from her face. "Watch your TV and stop worrying so much." He kissed her temple. "And when you get home, _talk_ to your mother. If you continue to leave it, you'll just make yourself more miserable about it. Now you've had _both_ of your fathers tell you," he grinned, and she couldn't refrain from rolling her eyes. "Maybe you should listen?"

She frowned but nodded, turning back to the television. She watched the tacky singers file across the stage one by one and she felt herself finally relaxing. It felt nice not to be sucked into the screen for once. She had never admitted it to anyone back home, but she personally hated that she couldn't sit far away from the things on the screen that happened, instead of being transported directly into the virtual world of things blowing up so close to her that it felt real. She had had too much of that in her real life to want to experience it as entertainment.

"So there are new senshi in the future?"

"Shut up, Mamo-chan! I'm not saying another _word_!" Her face began to turn pink, matching the shade of her hair. He chuckled. He couldn't tell if it was because Chibiusa was there or because he had finally woken up from the nightmares, but his pain was finally easing, and the darkness seemed far away now. He glanced down at the girl. She had definitely grown up quite a lot, as she'd probably had to, considering all that she'd already been through as a child. But she was still very much just a kid who didn't know when to shut up and fought with her mother when things weren't going her way.

* * *

Demando stared inside at the bright interior of the room, watching as the two on the couch laughed at something on the television. He turned away, his nostrils flaring and his eyes turning blood red with fury. He gripped the concrete of the balcony ledge, and it began to grind beneath his fingers.

"The Rabbit is protecting him," he hissed. He turned back to the room and stared back inside. They were still watching whatever ridiculous thing was on the screen. He flicked his wrist toward Mamoru, but no twinge seemed to appear on the man's face. "No!" He hissed loudly, backing away and hitting the concrete railing once again.

"I'm just going to check something," he heard the Rabbit saying inside. "I could have sworn I heard something." He hissed once again and dived off the balcony and into the night. Now that night had descended, he could no longer appear invisible as in daylight. Though it was only meant to protect him from death by the sunlight, it had become a useful tool. He had forgotten that it disappeared with the night. The darkness and their complete obliviousness had protected him from being sighted, but he would have to learn to be more careful.

Chibiusa slid open the balcony doors and stepped outside. She looked around the small space and furrowed her brow in confusion, wondering what that loud hissing noise had been. Stepping fully onto the balcony, she placed her hands on the railing and leaned over to look, but nothing was there.

Then she blinked and looked down at the railing. Her hands were fitted into what seemed like the molds of two hands much longer and larger than her own. "Mamo-chan!" She called, her voice becoming nervous.

"What is it?" The man stepped out on the balcony. "Chibiusa, what's wrong?"

She stepped back and pointed to the engravings in the stone. "What's that? You didn't do that, did you?"

"Uh, sadly, I'm not quite _that _strong," he smirked before stepping closer and looking at the concrete. "They're hand prints."

"Yeah!" Chibiusa shivered.

Mamoru felt an icy chill spread through him when he touched the engraving. He winced and took a step back. "Let's go inside, Chibiusa." He turned and started to push her back through the door.

"But Mamo-chan, what is that? Mamo-chan!"

"Don't worry about it, Chibiusa; you should probably start heading to bed, it's getting late..." He turned and slid the glass door shut, locking it and pulling the curtains closed. He turned to see the girl staring at him with her nose scrunched up, her face red, and her cheeks puffed out. He grinned. "What in the world is that face for?"

"Nobody ever tells me anything," she said, turning away and heading toward the guest room. "Good night, Mamo-chan!" She said defiantly, slamming her door behind her.

He sighed and shook his head, wincing when he felt the headache a little stronger. Why did the women in his life have to have such strong, demanding personalities?

* * *

The wind was ripping past them at such a high speed that the chill in the air became more prominent. Michiru pulled her soft blue wrap more tightly around her shoulders. The light blue dress she wore wasn't meant for chilly weather. "Should we not put the top up, Haruka?" she glanced at her partner, whose eyes were focused on the dark road in front of her. The woman didn't reply. Michiru raised one slender eyebrow and reached her hand out. She placed her hand lightly on Haruka's forearm.

The ash blonde woman flinched and looked at her. Her hair was blowing straight up in the wind and her white, button up shirt was billowing around her. She let a smile cover her face as she relaxed. "Gomen, Michiru."

"In your own world, Haruka?" Michiru teased lightly. "I asked if we should put the top up. It's rather chilly tonight."

"It is, isn't it?" Haruka murmured, and she reached down to press a button. Michiru inclined her head back and watched as a black top began to cover their heads.

"Much better," Michiru said liltingly. "Haruka, what are you thinking?"

"It's strange, isn't it?" Haruka leaned back in her seat and rested one of her hands on her hip, letting the other control the wheel. Her cobalt eyes steeled as she looked out at the stretch of road ahead of her. "It's deep summer, yet the night has a very prominent chill to it. It's usually very hot."

"You think it has something to do with our enemy as well?" Michiru murmured.

"I think there's a lot that has to do with them. It's too dark for five in the morning, Michiru," Haruka's eyes glanced away from the road and over to the woman beside her. "It's still inky black. It's like the darkness is trying to fight the sun."

Michiru turned and gazed out her window. "The sun usually rises around six." She said softly. "The sky should be a little lighter, should it not?"

"Yes," Haruka said firmly.

Michiru's lashes grazed her cheekbones as she closed her eyes softly and leaned back in her seat. "Haruka, would you think of me as weak if I admit that I am afraid? Not for myself." She paused. "I am afraid for them. Usagi-chan, Usa-chan, and now Mamoru-san."

"I am, too." Haruka said in a subdued tone. "Whatever is going on, it's becoming really powerful. I can feel it, can't you? Even the wind seems to hide. The night is too still. I cannot sense the wind."

Michiru reached down into her handbag that was at her feet and pulled out her Aqua Mirror. She gazed into it for a long time, and it was quiet as Haruka drove and she watched the mirror. Finally, as time went on, Michiru pulled her eyes away from the mirror to see that dawn was finally approaching. She visibly relaxed when the sun began to peek beyond the horizon. She glanced at Haruka, who was also glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. "I see nothing," she said in answer to Haruka's unspoken question. "Do you think if we become close to Demando, we will sense it?"

"I wish I knew," Haruka said grimly. It became quiet for a moment, and suddenly a low growling noise erupted through the car. Michiru blinked her eyes several times, and she turned to look at Haruka with an amused expression. Haruka looked at Michiru sheepishly out of the corner of her eye, and a small sweat bead began to fall on her head. "Ah... you heard that."

"Hungry, Haruka?" she purred, fluffing her hair back.

Haruka grinned. "Shall we stop for breakfast at the next town?"

"Of course," Michiru said with a teasing tone. "Let me see if I can tell what you are craving?" She cupped a hand over her ear and leaned closer to Haruka. "French toast, perhaps? Or something else French?"

The woman smirked. "It's too early in the morning to speak of my cravings, Michiru." She paused. "Though the French are a very imaginative people."

Michiru laughed musically. "They have taught us much, haven't they?"

"Mmm, and I believe we have been good students," Haruka nodded, a grin spreading over her face. Her stomach grumbled again. Her upper lip twitched, and Michiru put her hand over her mouth as she giggled.

* * *

"Only you would find an American diner in the middle of nowhere." Michiru complained lightly as she surveyed the American, retro-style diner the couple had entered. Haruka turned to wink at Michiru as their waitress showed them to a slick, sparkling red booth.

"You said French toast," she grinned. "I believe the Americans enjoy it. It put me in the _mood _for some."

Michiru simply gave her a knowing grin. She slid into the booth and winced. It wasn't the most comfortable seat. Haruka grabbed the two menus the waitress was offering her. Michiru smiled at the young girl, who was openly gaping at the two. Michiru raised an eyebrow at her. The black haired, prominently Japanese girl walked away toward one of her co-workers and motioned to the couple. Michiru turned to look down at her menu, sighing. She and Haruka were often given attention they didn't ask for. They were both used to it. Apart, they were seen as talented, attractive, aloof, and mysterious. Together, they were even more mysterious to the outside eye.

A buzzing sounded in Haruka's jean pocket, and she reached down and pulled her cell phone out. Michiru looked up from perusing her menu to see Haruka glance down at a text message. "It's Mako-chan."

Michiru raised an eyebrow. "Is everything alright?"

"She says to look at this morning's newspaper," the tall woman murmured in a slightly confused tone. "I'll be right back." She stood and left the booth, leaving Michiru to watch her leave. The waitress came back while she was gone, and Michiru smiled graciously at the girl, ordering two coffees, French toast for Haruka, and an omelet for herself. Just as the girl was walking away, Haruka was sliding into the booth again.

Michiru tilted her head to the side. "Haruka? Where did you go?"

The blonde nodded her head toward the window. "A newspaper stand is over there." Michiru didn't care to look, as she focused on the newspaper Haruka was spreading out over the table. "Mako-chan didn't say what to look for."

"Surely it would be important news we'd notice?" Michiru leaned over to see what Haruka might find on the front page.

"Well, I do believe this might be what she would think we'd find interesting," Haruka pointed to a column on the side of the front page. It wasn't the headline news for the day, but it was on the first page. "'The people of Kyuketsuki have reported several more disappearances in the past twenty-four hours.'" She read, but then she paused and frowned. "This is insane."

"What is it?"

"It's not reporting human disappearances."

"What?"

"It's dogs." Haruka looked up at Michiru in alarm, her face paling slightly. "Forty seven dogs have been reported as missing from people's homes in this city in the past few days. And that's not counting the strays they don't know how to count."

"Where is Kyuketsuki? And where are we now?"

Haruka opened her mouth to speak, but then she frowned. "I bought the Tokyo newspaper, but let me go buy a local one."

Michiru rolled her aqua eyes and swatted her hand to make the woman stop from leaving. "I'll check the GPS, Haruka."

Haruka coughed. "Right."

Michiru grinned and grabbed her phone out of her handbag.

"Finally, a use for that ridiculously expensive phone of yours," Haruka drawled with a grin before looking down at the newspaper again.

"It was a birthday gift and it would have been rude to return it," Michiru retorted playfully. "I know you don't appreciate my father's taste in gifts, but he was rather proud of it."

Haruka snorted. "A better gift would have been to, oh, I don't know, make an appearance at his only daughter's showing at one of the most prominent art galleries in Tokyo."

Michiru frowned and looked away as she turned the GPS application on. "We're apparently somewhere in Tsukuba. Kyuketsuki is..." She tapped a few buttons on her phone. "About thirty miles west of here. It's not really a big city," She noted. "There are only small roads leading to it. It can't be a very large place."

"It sounds like something very strange is going on there," Haruka said, avoiding the topic they had previously touched on, as Michiru obviously wanted to evade it. "We did think he would get away from Tokyo but would still stay relatively near."

"So in essence," Michiru was peering down at the GPS. "He's roughly an hour away by a fast car to the heart of Tokyo. We're out of the way; we went in the wrong direction."

Haruka shook her head and picked her phone up again just as the waitress approached with their tray of food and coffee. "Mako-chan is quite possibly my favorite person right now." She began typing into the phone.

Michiru swept the newspaper away from the table as the waitress began putting the food down on the table. "And I thought I was your favorite person." She pouted effectively.

Haruka looked up with a grin, and the waitress's jaw dropped as she fumbled with a bottle of syrup, knocking it over on the table. She mumbled a quick apology and wiped up the mess before scuttling away. Haruka snorted with a laugh as she watched the beet red waitress retreat into the kitchen. "You did that on purpose, Michiru." She accused playfully.

Michiru sniffed. "Why, yes, I did, Haruka. Public displays don't bother me. And she needed a small dose of reality, don't you agree?" She took a bite of her omelet. "Enjoy your French toast."

"Why, thank you. I will." Haruka began lathering the stack with syrup by turning the bottle upside down. "You know I haven't had these since I was a kid? Usagi-chan would be so jealous right now."

Michiru laughed. "Yes, she would."

"I'll make them extra syrupy just for her." She reached for her phone and Michiru blinked when she snapped a picture of her food.

"Haruka!"

"Yes?"

"Oh, never mind," Michiru shook her head in bewilderment, but she couldn't help but love Haruka's impulsive moment. She watched as Haruka surveyed her masterpiece. "By the way," she said softly. The blonde looked up from her mound of syrup-drowned toast to see Michiru giving her a loving smile. "Thank you for caring. About my father. I know you don't approve of his ways, but he does try. He just doesn't understand me. You're the only person that has ever completely understood me."

Haruka raised her eyebrow and lowered her fork. "Michiru, I care about _everything_ about you. I always have and I always will." She paused and grinned. "And you _are_ my favorite person."

Michiru smiled secretively and leaned her head on her folded hands, her eyes dancing. "Oh, I always know that. I just like to hear you say it." Haruka grinned and shook her head, digging back into her French toast once again.

* * *

Demando was in a vile mood as he stormed through Dracul's palace. What was he to do now? The offspring was helping to protect Endymion, and that meant he wasn't weakening.

"And she isn't weakening!" He hissed to no one in particular as he entered the grand parlor, pushing both of the wide doors open with brute force. Dracul was standing within the chamber, and he watched calmly as the heavy, oak doors nearly fell off their hinges.

"Demando, please. Those doors are several thousand years old," he sighed. "Take your temper out elsewhere."

"The offspring is protecting him!" Demando roared, picking up a dark wood, round table and slinging it across the room. It flew through the air and smashed into an opposite, black stone wall.

Dracul took a sip of something from a teacup. He held a saucer in his hand. "Protecting him?"

"The little demon has strange powers that are blocking me from taking his life," he hissed, striding close to Dracul. "She's not weakening, either."

Dracul raised an eyebrow. "That is very interesting."

"_Interesting!_" Demando screeched, and his eyes turned to a blood red color once again.

"Calm down, Demando," Dracul sighed and walked away. "You just smashed one of my favorite tables, and I have not laid a hand on you. It is only because I know how young your emotions still are." He placed his saucer and teacup on a table similar to the one Demando had shattered. Inside, a dark red liquid sloshed around in the cup. He turned to look at Demando once again. "Do not be discouraged by small inconveniences. There is a simple remedy to this."

"What?" Demando spit out.

"Separate them as well, of course," Dracul said lightly. "It seems we have to remove Serenity and the Rabbit from Endymion completely."

"How?" Demando raked both of his hands through his white hair. "I am so angry right now I cannot think, Dracul!"

Dracul smiled in a placating way. "I believe we may have to intervene and use their weak emotions," he strode toward a large, plush chair and sat down. "What do Serenity and the Rabbit want? To cure Endymion, of course. So we lead them away from him. We shall make them believe that they will find a cure by doing so."

Demando's white eyebrows were raised and he stared across at the other man in disbelief. "How are you going to do that?"

Dracul flashed a wide, terrifying grin, displaying his pearly white, knife splitting fangs. "You shall leave this little detour to me, Demando. Watch how _I _play the game."

* * *

"Listen to this, Haruka," Michiru said as she read through a pamphlet she had picked up as the couple had entered the small city of Kyuketsuki*. "'Kyuketsuki is known as the Transylvania of Japan, though the origin of the title is unknown. It is suspected to have been given the title because of the unusual name of the city or because of a legend dating back thousands of years. The city holds annual Halloween festivals that are famous throughout the entire country of Japan in honor of the vampires of Transylvania. During the festival, many flock to the city in order to give their gifts of death. On the west side of the city, an ancient, abandoned structure holds a mysterious legend that is known to many but spoken by none. It is here that the festival is said to have begun, though the origins of the ruins are unknown.'" She looked up at the taller woman. "The Transylvania of Japan? A legend known by many but spoken by none? How very odd."

"This place just sounds lovelier and lovelier, doesn't it?" Haruka muttered. "The west side of the city is where those ruins are, yes? I have a feeling we might find something there."

"This place feels very dark," Michiru noted as she looked out her window. They were driving down a wide street, and there were few cars. The sky was not overcast, but as Michiru watched, she saw shadows float across the road. "There is definitely evil here, Haruka."

"I feel it too," Haruka's dark blue eyes narrowed as she stared ahead of her. "And it seems the people can tell as well. There's barely anyone out."

"Mmm," Michiru looked down at the pamphlet again. "There's a map of the city here. If you turn to the left up here, it should lead us toward the ruins." Haruka nodded and switched on her signal. Michiru shivered involuntarily. "I can't feel the sea. It's as if this place is blocked from everything on the outside."

"There is no wind, either." Haruka murmured. "I know we said we wouldn't contact Pluto until we found something concrete, but I have such a strong feeling that you may want to go ahead. She may be able to see something now that we're here."

Michiru nodded and reached for her mirror. She closed her eyes for a long moment and opened them again, gazing in the mirror and thinking of her dear friend. "Setsuna."

A watery image of a dark green-haired woman appeared in the reflection. "Michiru, Haruka. I am so glad to see you are well."

"We're fine." Michiru assured her. The car suddenly stopped, but Michiru didn't look up. "We believe we may have found the city in which Demando is hiding, but we just aren't sure exactly where yet. We have a theory and we're heading there now."

"I will try to find you in the center of time," Pluto said distractedly. "But there is a more pressing matter."

"We know Usa is missing in the future," Haruka said as she leaned closer to Michiru to peer into the mirror. "She's here."

"That's not it; we know about that," Pluto hurried on. "But she's not there anymore."

"What?" Haruka raised an eyebrow.

"She and Usagi have both disappeared and I can't find them. Plus Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus are all injured, and..." The wavering image of Pluto paused. Haruka and Michiru began to feel a very deep sense of dread.

"What, Pluto? What is it?" Michiru prompted, gripping her graceful thin fingers around the mirror so tightly that she felt her knuckles pinching.

"Sailor Saturn is awake in Hotaru once again." Pluto said gravely, and even through the wavering of the aqua mirror, the two could see the woman's severe frown and hollow eyes.

* * *

End Chapter Six

Okay, I have lots of notes on this chapter... lol.

First and foremost... Dracul. If you have watched the SeraMyu Dracul arc of the SeraMyu musicals, you will know who this character is. You would have also recognized the name Le Fay. I also mentioned Dracul's daughter but haven't told you her name yet (though maybe some of you know! Lol). You don't have to watch any of the musicals, because they have absolutely, 100 percent nothing to do with this story. This Dracul is NOT the one from the musical. Well, he is, but he isn't. He's getting a brand new, revamped story of my own. The only similarity is that he married a human named Le Fay and they had a daughter. Er, and that he looks as he does in the musicals. Everything else is my own alteration or addition.

Although... I would recommend the musicals as they are really fantastic, especially if you're a die hard Sailor Moon fan. The Dracul arc of musicals are some of my favorites (though not my favorite Moon). Count Dracul is like... kick ass though. My favorite Myu actor plays him. (Mochizuki Yuuta, lol... who also played Chiba Mamoru in earlier musicals and King Endymion in others.) Oh, and if you want to watch a really awesome Demando, watch one of the musicals where Ono Hikari plays him. She is AMAZING. And yes, a woman plays Demando. But seriously... she rocks. You'll just have to see to believe!

*Did you guess? Kyuketsuki means "vampire" in Japanese. Heh heh heh. The city, btw, does not exist. There are also not very many "vampire" myths in Japan... just one about a vampire cat, which kinda sounds lame (well, in comparison to everything else Japanese, it really DOES sound lame, no joke)... oh, the city of Tsukuba, however, does exist. It's to the northeast of Tokyo.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think. ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU! :)


End file.
